The Diaz Family Road Trip
by Unluckywrites
Summary: Follow the Diaz's as they go on a road trip to a family wedding up north. Star comes along for the ride and with her involved who knows what crazy adventures they will get into! Story is mainly adventure/friendship but builds up to starco. I own nothing! (Completed!)
1. Pancakes and Mewni Style Trailers

**Authors Note**

 **So this is my fist every story (yay!). I'm new to this so it might take a while for me to get used to the system. I will accept reviews and will try my best to listen to constructive criticism! This story takes place in the cannon universe and will contain starco later on. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did writing and so without further ado here it is The Diaz Family Road Trip!**

Pancakes and Mewni Style Trailers

Golden sunlight flowed through stars curtains illuminating the dim room. Star awoke with a yawn and rolled over in bed. To her it was just any old normal day but for the rest of the Diaz's it was anything but. Yes unknown to her today was packing day for the Diaz Family Road Trip! A grand adventure crossing hundreds of miles and tomorrow they set off. Star crawled out of bed eyes blinking open, she smelt the sugary temptation of pancakes wafting through her room and followed the smell downstairs.

Marco awoke in daze still half dreaming. After waking up a bit more he glanced at the calendar, "tomorrows the day!" He said to himself while stepping out of bed. His stomach rumbled demanding food, so he complied to its request and headed for downstairs for breakfast.

As Marco walked down the stairs he paused to look at the scene taking place, it was so... perfect. Star sat eagerly awaiting breakfast with a smile plastered on her face, Marcos mother was cooking away and his father was beside her squeezing fresh orange juice, both chattering away in delight. Marco let out a contented breath and a small smile appeared on his lips, everything was the way it should be.

Star noticed Marco and called to him "Morning Marcooooo!" She sang enthusiastically. Marco just laughed headed down to sit beside her.

"So mom what's for breakfast?" Marco asked rubbing his eyes.

"Just my world famous pancakes!" His mother replied swinging around to show a plate full of piping hot fresh baked pancakes!

Star squealed "Awesome!"

Mrs Diaz placed them in the centre of the table as Mr Diaz poured everyone orange juice.

"Dig in!" Mr Diaz exclaimed.

But just before Star could get her hands on some of the deliciousness sitting in front of her, Marco stopped her. She sat there staring at him with a look of confusion and horror while Marco on the other hand sat there grinning.

"Star your a betting girl..." he began

This made her smile competitively.

"What did you have in mind?..." She asked slyly.

Marco looked at her with a devious glint in his eye.

"What to you say we make a little deal hmmmm?"

"Go on..."

"Do you think you could eat more pancakes then i can?"

"Pffff! You? Eat more pancakes then me? In your dreams!"

"So are you up for it?"

"What are the stakes?"

Marco smoothly slid 5 dollars onto the table; Star grinned and did the same.

"I'm in." She said stacking pancakes on her plate.

"I have to warn you Star I'm pretty hungry." He said while cracking his knuckles.

"Well I'll have you know I _LOVE_ pancakes."

They both stared at each other competitively, stacks of pancakes drizzled with sugary syrup on their plates.

"First one to eat all of the pancakes wins!" Marco exclaimed brown eyes locked onto her blue ones.

"You're on!" Star replied not shifting her gaze.

"Mom if you will do the honors." Marco asked.

Mr and Mrs Diaz had been eating and enjoying the show taking place in front of them, it was quite entertaining!

Mrs Diaz swallowed and cleared her throat "Three... Two... One... Go!"

Marco and Star dove into their plates like wild animals, syrup and pancake bits went everywhere! Mr and Mrs Diaz watched laughing. Marco pulled ahead and Star noticed this, determined to win (not because of the money but because she rather enjoyed having bragging rights against Marco) sped up and just beat him by a quarter of a pancake! After both sat their laughing, mouths full of pancake.

"And the winner is..." Mr Diaz trailed off.

"Star!" Mrs Diaz yelled

Star jumped up raising her arms in triumph "Ha, Ha! I win!" She then proceeded to scoop up her winnings and rub them in Marcos face.

Marco rolled his eyes and smiled "Laugh it up now princess but be warned I'm not going so easy on you next time!"

Star scoffed "Ha ya right, going easy!" She said voice lathered in sarcasm.

They both are laughing when Mrs Diaz speaks up.

"Marco are you going to tell star the thing?"

"The thing?" Star questioned innocently while looking at Marco

"Oh ya I almost forgot!"

He continued "Star, we are going on a road trip!"

"A road trip?"

"Ya it's like when we take our trailer hook it up and drive someplace far away, its just like camping but on the move!"

"You mean to tell me we will be driving hundreds of miles in cramped car with minimal leg room and a trailer only to stop late at night in some random location where we sleep for a bit and then start the journey all over again?... SOUNDS AWESOME!" Star shouted with huge smile.

"Here i will show you the trailer!" Marco said grabbing Star's hand

The two headed into the garage. Marco flicked on the light. It sat there in all its glory, beige and brown mutely gleaming in the light pale yellow light.

"Huh i can work with this..." Star stated whilst chewing on her wand.

"Wait Star what are you doi-" he was cut off by the bright glow of Stars wand and her saying "Super glitter rainbow mewni trailer transform!"

A bright flash of light and glitter engulfed the room. As the sparkly dust cleared he could see it, it was now bright teal blue with a pastel rainbow stripe ribboning around the centre. The inside had changed to fit the style too, it was now basically Star's room on wheels (still the same original size though).

"STAAAAAAR!" Marco shouted

Star looked over at him sheepishly, worry evident on her face. Marco slowly turns with a glare on his face that all of the sudden shifts to a smile.

"I love it!"

Star let out a breath she forgot she was holding and laughed with relief.

"Yea i think my work here is done!" Star proudly boasted

"Well i like it." Marco paused then continued "But what are mom and dad going to say?" Worry crossing his face

Just then Mr and Mrs Diaz come in to check what the noise was that came for the garage.

Mr Diaz's voice ringed into the culprits ears "Star, Marco, what's going on?"

Star and Marco glance at each other in horror. The sound of the door opening fills the air and they turnaround to see Mr and Mrs Diaz mouths agape and staring at the trailer.

"Star did you do this?..." Mrs Diaz spoke.

"Well ummmm... Ya but i didn-" Star is cut off by Mr Diaz's rambling.

"Its, Its..."

The tension is killing Star. "It's ruined? Awful? Unusable? Come on just tell me already!" She thinks to herself

"...Amazing!" He finally lets out

Star lets out a breath she forgot she was holding, again. Now Mrs Diaz chimes in.

"Look Marco now we can travel mewni style!"

Marco laughs "I wonder want the others are going to think!"

"The others?" As far as she could remember Star was told of no others.

Marco face palmed "Oh duh, I totally forgot to tell you, the whole point of this road trip is that we are going to a family wedding, my uncle Donato is getting married!"

"My little brother is finally getting married!" Tears welling up in Mr Diaz's eye.

"Yes, which means you have to pack some fancy clothes for the wedding!" Mrs Diaz continues.

Fancy cloths... Star goes back to a all to recent memory, the blood moon ball. Marco did look dashing that night, she had forgiven him but it was a subject they didn't like to talk about. She wondered if she would get to dance with him again... if her luck ran well he might where that mask again to. When he swept her off her feet warring that mask she couldn't help but fall for the mysterious stranger behind it, when it turned out to be Marco she almost fell over, the man behind that masks dance moves did not resemble Marco's usual awkward take on life. She still hadn't fully resolved her feelings for him since then.

"Speaking of packing cloths that's probably what we should be doing!"Marco proclaimed

Star snapped back to reality and nodded and they headed up stairs.

"Now remember Star only bring the necessities! Clothes, your wand charger, toothbrush, toothpaste etcetera and maybe some stuff to keep you entertained while on the road."

Star dismissed him with a wave of the hand "Ya ya I got this!"

Meanwhile in another dimension...

A portal ripped open in the centre of Ludo's throne room and out walked Buff Frog. He did his classic ribbit salute, "Master Ludo! Star and the Karate boy's family are going on a road trip!"

Ludo turned his throne around "A road trip you say... This could be just what we need!" He said while rubbing his hands together maniacally. "While they're distracted we can steal the wand!"

"Ahahaha Star won't have that wand for long!" Ludo threatened jumping off his throne, "I'm coming for you Star Butterfly!"

Back on earth...

After all packing their cloths and such the day had been pretty busy, Mr Diaz checked the car and trailer to make sure everything was ready to go and set up. Mrs Diaz had spent the day packing food and all other things they would need while on the road. Star had followed Marco to the store to pick up some extra stuff for their trip.

The two were walking back to the house while carrying the bags of stuff.

"I wonder why Ludo hasn't attacked already? You think he would show up by now, he's 3 hours late!" Star said glancing at Marco.

"Ya that's kinda weird, what is he planning..." Marco trailed off.

They got home and slouched onto the soft blue couch and watch some mind numbing tv for the last time before they left.

Later that night the whole family huddled together around a map on the kitchen table. Mr Diaz went over the plan and where they were going. Star just sat there pretending to know what was going on (apparently they are heading to a place called Montana? She had no idea where or what that was) after, everybody got ready for their last night at home, soon they would be on the road!

Star sat in her room bubbling from excitement, as she closed her eyes she thought of what adventures they would encounter. She yawned and with that fell asleep because who knew what tomorrow had in store...

 **And that's it the first Chapter! What is Ludo planning... Anyways please review i would really appreciate it and i hope to update soon see you in the next chapter!**


	2. First Day Follies

**Authors Notes**

 **Wow, just wow... You guys (and girls) are amazing! I was not expecting this much positive feed back! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, follows, and or favorites my story! I would also like to apologize for the long wait (i went camping just after i posted the story) hopefully updates won't be so far apart and i will tell you guys if I'm going on hiatus or something in the future. Anyways back now to the story, this chapter was a bit hard to right due to the chase scene. In the original it took up 90% of the story so i had to fix that, and it was a lot more violent, so i cut back on that as well. Other then that this chapter was a joy to write and i hope you enjoy!**

-First Day Follies-

To say that the Diaz's house hold was in chaos would be an understatement. Star and Marco had slammed into one another in the rush to get downstairs, Mr Diaz while making last minute checkups on the vehicles had set off the car alarm and Mrs Diaz while in a daze had accidentally set fire to breakfast. So there they were, Star and Marco lying on the floor, alarms blaring and smoke filling the kitchen as the parents rushed to fix their mistakes. As it seemed the Diaz family road trip was not going as planed...

"Ugh what happened?" Marco sat up rubbing his head

"I... I think we ran into each other." Star said laying face down on the floor.

It was then that Marco had tuned into the situation... "Why is the car alarm going?" Marco sniffs the air "And what's burning!"

Marco rushed down stairs to see billows of black smoke chocking out the clean air. "AHHHHHH!" Marco screamed Star came down beside him "Hey what's goi- AHHHHHHH!" they both stared at each other screaming pointing at the fire.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" Mrs Diaz screamed and pushed past them holding a fire extinguisher. She aimed and fired the device. Foam spewed forth snuffing out the blaze. Mrs Diaz went and opened the windows in an effort to clear out the smoke.

The car alarm finally stopped going and Mr Diaz came out of the garage.

"Hey guys crazy stor- what happened here?"

Mrs Diaz looked at her husband exhausted "Don't ask..."

The family sort of just sat there for a minute looking at each other, Mr Diaz spoke gesturing at Star and Marco "What happened to you two?"

"We ran into each other while running down the hall..." Marco explained.

Star laughed "I think you ran into me, I just stepped out into the hall."

There was a pause, then a giggle and slowly but surely everyone began laughing at their crazy morning.

"Breakfast on the road?" Mrs Diaz asked after calming down.

All three nodded excitedly.

About a half hour later after the mess had been cleaned up and the smoke cleared Star, Marco, Mr Diaz and Mrs Diaz all piled into the car.

"Alright, are we finally ready to go!" Mr Diaz said starting the car.

The answer was a quite relieved and unanimous "Yes!"

Pulling out of the driveway the small crew of now nomads took in the sight of their house one last time.

"Oooo this is going to be so great! Where are we going first, what are we doing?" Star said jumping up and down on the seat.

"Well I know that tonight we are going to be staying in the parking lot of the mountain inn." Marco answered "But first let's get some breakfast!"

The morning light had given way to the noon sun, our heroes are now stuck in traffic and finishing up the last of their breakfast.

"Ugh can't they go any faster?" Star asked Marco

Marco turned to her "Apparently not." He said irritated.

Star huffed and looked at the ocean of cars outside her window.

It was then and there that Mr Diaz had enough and he pulled out onto the small section between the lane and the edge of the road. He put his foot down and sped ahead of the competition.

"Wooooooo!" Star yelled ecstatically as they raced up the highway, head sticking out the window her blonde hair rippling in the wind.

Marco was not as amused though... "Dad what are doing? What if the police catch us? "

Mr Diaz was not convinced "Hahaha its ok son there are no police around!"

Just then to everyone's horror a siren went off.

Star looked at Marco in horror and then turned to Mr Diaz "FLOOR IT!"

Mr Diaz without thinking did just that. The two teens were slammed into the back of their seats as their speed suddenly increased. They raced up the side of the highway in a high speed chase. Things started to get worse as another police car joined in.

Star grabbed hold of Marcos shoulders and started to shake them violently "WHAT DO WE DO!"

"I DONT KNOW, BUT FLOORING IT IS PROBABLY NOT A GOOD IDEA!" Marco yelled back.

Soon they could see up a head another police car blocking the road. Star saw this and stuck her head out the window "MEGA RAINBOW RAMP!" And a rainbow coloured ramp appeared in front of them. They flew (plummeted) through the air and hit the ground with a thud. As they raced onward the three police cars started to gain on them.

Star was beginning to panic and she slipped into battle mode. Eyes ablaze with a righteous fury she stuck herself out the window and began to attack...

"NARWHAL BLAST!"

"MEGA MARSHMALLOW PULSE!"

"LEMON LIME LASER!"

Marco grew wide eyed "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WE WILL GO TO JAIL!"

Star continued to fire spells left right and centre nearly missing one of the police cars. Marco pulled Star into the car and wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to restrain her from blasting an officer.

"Marco! Let me go!" She cried valiantly trying to wriggle free.

"Star you can't narwhal blast an officer! I don't want to go to jail!" Marco retorted.

The car and trailer skidded to a stop when Mr Diaz saw yet another police car blocking his path. As the tire smoke was washed away with the wind one of the four cars slowly pulled up beside them. An officer stepped out and sauntered up to the window. Mr Diaz and Mrs Diaz (who was still a bit in shock from the previous events) gulped and awaited the impending fine and or jail time. Star had now stopped wriggling after coming to her senses and now the two clung together in fear of being put in the slammer.

"End of the line there Mr!" The police officer boasted.

Mr Diaz tensed in his seat.

"Uhhh your fine comes to..." The man stated while typing on a calculator.

"Twenty five dollars."

Everyone gasped, and then paused.

"W... What?" Mr Diaz asked very confused.

"Twenty five dollars, that's the fine for a broken tail light."

"Ok..." Mr Diaz left it at that (best not to bring up assault on an officer and such).

Mr Diaz paid the fine, got out of the car and went to fix the tail light.

"Ummm Star you can let go now." Marco said turning his attention to her.

"Oh, ya." She replied laughing nervously and blushing. They sat awkwardly for a while until Mr Diaz came back.

"Well, that uh... happened?" Mrs Diaz stated

"Yup." Marco replied.

"We should best get going." Mr Diaz said while pulling out into the now flowing traffic.

A couple of hours later...

Star and Marco gazed out the side window of the car as it winded higher and higher through the hills and up out of Echo Creek. The sun melted into the horizon, its orange glow bleeding into the twilit sky. They pulled over at a look out, the city sprawled out in front of them, its lights glittering into the evening. Star and Marco stepped out into the cooling air.

"Wow earth sure is beautiful." Star whispered longingly.

"Haha yea..."

"We don't have cities like this on Mewni." She said looking out on the vast sea of light.

"Well that may be true but you basically live in a fairy tale! You know how cool that is!" Marco replied.

"True, true." She said with a giggle and turned to Marco "But still, like wow." He looked at her smiling gently, both becoming lost in each other's eyes.

The two were broken from their little moment when Mr and Mrs Diaz came over from taking pictures of each other's quote unquote "Beautiness" in the evening light.

"Alright kids we should get going we don't want to be late for the check in at the inn!" Mrs Diaz explained.

They both glanced away from each other hint of redness creeping onto their faces.

"Ya that sounds like a good idea..." Marco said facing the ground, a tad embarrassed.

By the time they pulled into the inn parking lot they sky faded into darkness, the moon sat high in the sky a white jewel in a sea of stars

"Looks like we're having a late night tonight!" Mr Diaz exclaimed.

Star yawned half asleep "Ya..."

"Marco can you hand me the flashlight I can't see I need to get my purse." Mrs Diaz asked.

*snore*

"Marco?"

Star glanced over to where Marco sat, he was fast asleep his face pressed against the window. Star giggled "He looks so cute when he's asleep..." She thought to herself. Star stopped giggling then broke into a devious smile. She slowly leaned in, her face just inches from his.

"Marcoooo, wake up Marcoooo."

"Huh, what where a- AHHHHHH." Marco reeled backwards and hit his head on the widow. Star fell back into her seat laughing face off.

"STAR! WHAT THE HECK?" Marco complained.

"You... you should of seen your face!" Star said between breaths.

"Nah nah nah you should of seen your face." Marco imitated annoyed.

Star burst out laughing again and Marco couldn't help but laugh along with her.

"Alright kids lets go we got a big day ahead of us tomorrow!" Mr Diaz explained while getting out of the car.

The Diaz's, after a small dinner, were now all settled into bed. Mr and Mrs Diaz slept at the far end of the trailer on the main bed. Star and Marco however had to make do with the table booth which in a long and frustrating process could be converted into a bed.

Marco turned in his sleeping bag "Goodnight Star."

"Goodnight Marco." Star said closing her eyes.

Meanwhile in Ludo's castle...

Buff Frog entered into the throne room to give his daily report. "Sir construction is going as planed and it should be finished on time!"

"Perfect!" Ludo shouted evilly. "How about the other buildings did you get rid of them?"

"They are working on that right now Ludo sir!" The frog replied.

"Good, good, Star and her stupid boyfriend's family won't know what hit them... Literally! Ahahahahaha!"

 **Don't worry guys Ludo's plan will be reviled soon enough! If you want to guess what it is you can PM me, please don't guess in the reviews because you wouldn't want to spoil the fun now would you! I hope you liked this chapter i will try to get the next one out as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Three Small Tales

**Author's notes**

 **OK so first off i would like to thank you guys for all the support this story is getting, you guys are awesome! Secondly thank you Lennoxmacduffes for pointing out the grammar! I seriously had no idea about how many errors i was making and hopefully this and future chapters wont have as many problems. I am always looking to improve as a writer! Also i forgot to put this in the other two chapters... I OWN NOTHING! Now onto chapter three! This one is a little different from the others. I decided to make it split into three small one shots each corresponding to a day in their journey. Due to my choice this chapter will be quite a bit longer then the other two! I hope you enjoy!**

 **Day one: Fun in the Sun!**

If it wasn't the searing heat that would kill her it would be the boredom. Star sat in the small car and looked out the window at the endless desert stretching out before her. She turned and looked at Marco who was also staring out his window. He turned and looked at Star both giving each other a bored look.

Star was pretty sure she would have died if they hadn't turned off into the small desert campground just then.

The vehicle weaved off onto a dirt road leading into the camp. It was like a miniature oasis. Small palm trees shaded the sites and there was a pond just outside the area. They pulled up to the check in as Mr Diaz paid for the night Star got excited.

"We're here!" She exclaimed with excitement "After four hours we're finally here!"

Tears of joy welled up in her eyes. Star was a very active and energetic person so sitting in a small car for four hours straight with nothing to see but flat desert was her version of torture.

"Marco look we're here!" Star said vigorously shaking the brown haired teen.

Marco just laughs "Yes Star we're here!"

They pulled into the small site they would be staying the night at. As soon as the car stopped moving the magical princess raced out of the vehicle and began to run around expelling all the excess energy built up. She grabbed Marcos hand and they ran around the campsite, Marco laughing at Star's antics.

Mr Diaz laughed "Alright kids calm down! Me and Mrs sleepy head over here-" Mr Diaz gestured over to the car where Mrs Diaz was sleeping in the passenger seat. "-are going to take a nap, you can head to the pool of you want."

"THEY HAVE A POOL!" Marco and Star uttered simultaneously.

They quickly grabbed their things and headed over to the pool. When they arrived they took a look at it. It wasn't very impressive just a small pool with a diving board on the deep end. The change rooms were just two brown buildings each corresponding to a certain gender. Palm trees provided shade for some of the sunbathing chairs and a small life guard tower stood watch over the pool (although no one was in it). There were other people to some were swimming others just walking around or sunbathing. Marco and Star headed for the change rooms.

Star walked out of the ladies change room and saw Marco standing by a palm tree he turned to look at Star. She couldn't help but find him attractive bare chest in that red swimsuit. "Those karate lessons sure paid off..." she thought to herself. Meanwhile Marco looked at Star who was wearing a bright teal bikini with her hair tied up in a ponytail. He had to admit, she was a good looking girl. After a while and some awkward starring they both snapped back into reality with hints of pink dressing their faces.

Star broke the silence "Race you to the pool!" She challenged bit before she could leap into action...

"Up bup bup! No running by the pool!" Marco retorted.

"Aww come on what's the worst that could happen?"

Just then a small chubby kid in blue swim shorts and wearing green goggles ran past them, slipped, did a face plant and then proceeded to slide across the smooth white tiles into the pool.

Marco turned to Star with a smug look on his face.

"Touché." Star admitted and then despite Marcos warning ran and jumped into pool.

"Star!"

Half an hour later of watery fun...

"Cannon ball!" Marco shouted before leaping into the air off the diving board. He sailed through the air and splashed into the chlorinated water right beside Star.

He swam to the surface gasping for air.

"You did that on purpose!" Star exclaimed before wiping the blonde hair away from her face.

"I did!" Marco replied.

They both laughed.

"You know what this pool needs..." Star said climbing out of the pool "A SLIDE!" She shouted while waving her wand.

"I don't think it's a good id-"

"SUPER DUPER DOLPHIN SLIDE!" She yelled.

A massive dolphin themed slide replaced the dinky diving board resulting in gasps and cheers from the rest of the pool goers.

Marco laughed and turned towards Star.

"You're crazy..." He said with a smile.

"Crazy awesome!" Star said running off toward the slide "Race you to the top!"

Marco ran after her laughing, "Yup she's crazy." He thought to himself laughing.

 **Day two: Jealous of You!**

Marco couldn't take it anymore he needed a bathroom _now_.

"Mom! Dad! I REALLY have to go to the bathroom!" He pleaded.

"Yes we know, the next stop is just up a head!" Mrs Diaz assured him.

They pulled into a fairly large tourist trap filled to the brim with travellers. Marco bolted out of the car and raced to the nearest restroom. When he finished Star was standing beside the washroom.

"Got it out of your system?" She questioned.

"Ya I'm good now." He replied relived.

"Great because I want to check this place out!"

"Sure whatever you want." He stated nonchalantly.

Marco finally got a good look at the place he was in. It seemed to be a western themed gift shop. Hundreds of trinkets and random paraphernalia lined the shelves and walls even the ceiling had stuff hanging from it! It also was connected to a giant also western themed stripmall-esq tourist trap.

"Soooo where do you want to go first?" He asked Star who was gazing at the assortment of objects everywhere.

She grabbed his hand "let's go check that out!" She said pointing to a rack of plastic rattle snakes.

A while later whilst looking at some shirts a suave brown haired, hazel eyed boy waring a sombrero and a red poncho sauntered up to Star.

"Hola hermosa!" He said.

"Hey?" Star said intrigued.

Star didn't understand what he said but Marco knew all to well. "Hello beautiful my..." he grumbled to himself.

"My name is Joshua, but you my fine lady may call me Josh." The boy said taking stars hand and kissing it.

Marcos eyes narrowed at the sight of the boy and his actions.

"So, Josh." Marco hissed "What brings you here..."

"Oh well I work here! I'm a tour guide here... mind if I show you around?" The boy said taking Stars hand again.

Star looked at Marco every fibre of his being told him to say no but he knew Star should be allowed make her own choices.

"Ya you can go if you want I will just be at the restaurant getting something to eat if you need me." He muttered.

"Thanks Marco!" Star said and ran off with Josh.

Marco went and sat down in the restaurant grumbling to himself he couldn't stand that boy for some reason. Soon he could hear a smooth voice danced its way into his ears from behind. Marco turned around to see a blonde haired cowgirl with vivid green eyes calling to him.

"Heyyy there cowboy why you looking so glum?" She said waltzing on up to him.

"It's nothing." He said resentfully.

"Well then it shouldn't be too hard to cheer you up now should it...?" She said sitting beside him and playfully nudging him.

A bit later and Star walks into the restaurant to see the blonde haired girl chatting (flirting) away with Marco.

"Hey Marco..." Star called behind gritted teeth. "Can we talk?" Envy dripping from her voice.

"Just a sec Jessica." Marco said to the girl smiling.

The two walked outside into the open air and Marcos smile dropped into a frown.

"What is it Star..." Marco began with a sigh.

"I don't like that girl." She stated.

"Well i don't like Josh but did that stop you? And her name's Jessica by the way!"

"Is that what this is about? Josh?"

"Why do you care so much about me talking to this girl?"

"I don't know! But one thing's for sure I don't like you hanging around with her!"

"If you can go gallivanting off with Josh to who knows where I should be able to at least have a conversation with another girl!"

Star huffed and they both turned away from each other. After a awkward silence Marco spoke up.

"Look Star I guess... I guess I was just jealous of Josh spending time with you so i was trying to make you jealous..." He said turning to Star.

Star turned to Marco and let out a sigh "And I shouldn't have just ditched you for some random guy, you're my friend you deserve better than that... hugs?"

Marco smiled "Hugs." He said wrapping his arms around her. They parted "What do we do about Jessica and Josh." Star began.

"I think they'll be fine..." Marco said pointing to the building where they were a few minutes ago to see Jessica and Josh smooching away.

"Kids!" They heard Mr Diaz call.

Marco turned towards Star "You ready to go?"

"Definitely, let's get out of here!" She exclaimed and the two ran off to the car.

 **Day Three: Ludo leave me be!**

Stars stomach growled.

"Man I'm starving!" She said to the Diaz's.

"It has been quite a while since we've had anything to eat!" Mrs Diaz added.

"Ok I will stop at the next restaurant and we can have some lunch." Mr Diaz said from the driver's seat.

Star looked out the front windshield only to see a straight road stretching endlessly in front of them.

"It's going to be forever until the next stop!" She complained.

She then moved her gaze over to see Marco hunched over hiding something...

"Heyyyy Marco whatcha got there..."

Marco stiffened and Star heard some shuffling.

"I... Uhh... It's... It's nothing really..."

"Show me."

"Oh no it's... Uhhh... Not very interesting."

"Just show me I don't mind."

Marco slowly sat up with his arms in hands up position and there was nothing there but Star noticed something on his face...

"Is... Is that chocolate?!"

"Noooo! Why would I have chocolate! That's ridiculous!" He laughed nervously and quickly wiped his face.

Just then something dropped out of his sleeve... a chocolate bar. His eyes grew wide there was a pause for a second and they both lunged for it.

"Hand it over chocolate boy! I want some!"

"No you can't have any it's mine!"

But then just before things escalated into karate and magic up ahead the parents saw a gas station and more importantly a restaurant. Mr Diaz breathed a sigh of relief and called to the kids.

"Look just up ahead there's a restaurant!" Mr Diaz exclaimed.

Star and Marco stopped their bickering and looked out the window as the restaurant grew closer, both of them eagerly awaiting the taste of food in their mouths.

The car and trailer pulled into the parking lot. The engines purr turned silent as Mr Diaz turned off the ignition.

"Alright let's get some lunch into you two!" Mr Diaz said relived.

Star and Marco (who'd caved and given part of his chocolate bar to Star after she gave him the puppy dog eyes.) raced out of the car to the diner.

The room was relatively small with bright red leather booths for eating. The whole place had a very retro vibe.

A slender waitress wearing a white dress shirt and grey dress pants with a black apron came and took their orders. Marco went first.

"I will have the country style hamburger please."

"And I'll have the cinnamon pancakes!" Star said enthusiastically.

"Why pancakes?" Marco asked.

"Why not pancakes?" She retorted.

Marco couldn't argue with that logic.

Mr Diaz ordered "Me and my wife here will be splitting the grilled chicken quesadillas."

"Is that all for today?" The waiter asked.

"Yea that is all." Mrs Diaz replied.

A while later...

Star jumped for joy as she saw her stack of cinnamon pancakes approaching. Marco sat staring at the massive sugary heap. Then his burger was placed in front of him. He was starving but just before Marco could dig into his hamburger a portal ripped open and Ludo with a few of his lackeys stepped out.

"STAR BUTTERFLY! HAND OVER THE WAND!" Ludo roared (squeaked).

"Ludo? How did you know where I was!"

"Ahahaha you'll never know!"

Star and Marco jumped onto the table beside them formed into battle position.

"Come and get some!" Marco taunted.

"GET THE WAND!" Ludo screamed.

An all out fight broke out in the middle of the restaurant. Star made the fist move and jumped off the table smashing in bearicorns head with her wand.

Marco leapt into action and karate chopped the giraffe guy in the neck.

"DOUBLE DIAMOND DAISY BLAST!" Star shouted and a blue beam of diamond daisies blasted into big chicken.

Marco swooped in from behind Star and kicked three eyed potato baby in the face. Star twirled around and high fived Marco while he kicked down a monster.

A quick six minute long butt kicking later...

"Alright losers let's go!" Ludo muttered while pushing a couple of other monsters through the portal.

"I WILL GET THAT WAND SOMEDAY!" Ludo threatened. "And she won't even know it..." He whispered to himself.

With a flash the portal closed leaving Star and Marco standing in the centre of the diner. Plates and cutlery all over the place with food sprawled in between.

"I don't think we will be seeing much of them for a while!" Marco boasted.

Star laughed "Yup those losers looked pretty much defeated!"

They both laughed and went back to finish their lunch which miraculously was still intact.

Back in Ludo's castle...

Buff frog came up to Ludo "Sir I think that was one of the worst battles we've ever..."

"That's the point you idiot!" Ludo interrupted. "Let them think they've won so we can catch them off guard!"

"Ohhh i get it now!"

"Moron... In just a while I will have that precious wand in my very claws!" He laughed aloud.

 **So that concludes chapter three** **(I do not apologize for the cheesy names of each day)** **! I hope you liked it and see you all in chapter four!**


	4. Surprise! Part 1: Bad Maintenance

**Author's Notes**

 **Hello ! I'm back with another chapter for your reading pleasure! This chapter is actually going to be part one of a two part story. Hopefully I can get the next one up before i go on vacation for a week! But just so you know if i don't update for a very long time its because I'm on a camping trip! Anywho I'm going to shut up now and let you enjoy the story! I own nothing!**

Marco was awoken by his head knocking onto the glass window of the car.

"Owww."

He rubbed the spot and looked over to see Star fast asleep on his hoodie. Marco had taken it off a while ago; it was just too hot in the desert to wear such attire.

"Star... Wake up." Marco said groggily.

"What... No Oscar go away..." She said rolling over.

"Oscar?"

The princess rolled over again and made a shewing motion as if to make the voice go away.

"Staaaar..."

Her eyes fluttered open to the dry glow of the desert sun. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"How...*yawn*... How long have we been driving?" She asked in a daze.

"Five hours approximately." Marco replied looking at his watch.

Star peered out her window only to realize that they were not on the highway anymore.

"Wait a minute, where are we?" Star said turning to face Marco.

Marco looked out his window realizing this as well "I... I don't know! Mom, dad where are we going?"

Mr and Mrs Diaz started giggling from up front.

"You'll see soon enough!" Mrs Diaz said with a bubbly tone. She and Mr Diaz began laughing.

Star and Marco looked at each other confused. But then Marco spotted something on the horizon, a glistening tower of metal. An hour passes the tower slowly grows bigger and more detailed with other smaller towers appearing below it. As they approached even closer and got a good look it finally clued in where they were going.

"Golden Wood Theme Park!" Marco screamed in delight.

"What's that?" Star asked enthusiastically.

"It's a giant place full of fun rides and it even has a water park!" Marco replied with a huge smile.

Stars smile grew; she had never seen him this exited before.

"That's right Marco! We're staying here for three nights!" Mrs Diaz exclaimed.

They pulled into a parking spot in the campground beside the park. Marco leapt out of the car.

"When do head into the park!" He said jumping up and down.

"Hahahaha calm down Marco! We're not going into the park until tomorrow!" Mr Diaz laughed.

"Awwwwww." Star and Marco both moaned.

"Ohhh come on you two, it's starting to get dark and we need you guys to go get some firewood!" Mrs Diaz explained.

"Off you go!" Mr Diaz said pointing towards the camp office.

The next day...

"Ooooooo Marco today we get to go to the theme park!" Star said nudging him in their shared bed.

Marco nudged her back "Just five more minutes' mom..."

Star giggled and nudged back "Come on I want to go!"

"Ya ya, I'm getting up." Marco replied opening his eyes to the Mewni styled interior. "But first, breakfast."

"Fine..." Star complied getting up.

The four travelers stood just inside the gates to the park with their stomachs full of a quick breakfast. The whole place basked in pale yellow morning light as slowly more guests arrived to ride the day away.

"Alright Marco you and Star stick together and most importantly, have fun!" Mrs Diaz exclaimed passing the two their day passes.

"Yes this is for you two being so good on the trip so far, so enjoy your day off!" Mr Diaz added.

And with that Marco grabbed Stars hand and ran off to see what ride they should go on first.

"Where do you want to go first?" He said with glee.

Star looked around for a bit until deciding on the biggest tallest roller coaster possible.

"Let's go on that one!" She said pointing at the Sky Slicer.

Marco gulped and his smile dropped. He looked up at the towering lime green tangle that was the Sky Slicer. Screams Echoed from the dreaded mess.

"Well... If you want I guess..." He said pulling her towards it with a nervous smile.

An endless wait in line later...

"YES!" Star shouted climbing into the seat "It's finally our turn!"

"You know i might just sit this one out..." Marco muttered.

"You're not scared are you?" Star said with a sly grin.

"Well no... It's just I uhhh... The ride isn't safe... Okay fine I'm a little scared." Marco admitted.

"All the more reason to ride it!" Star said pulling Marco into the seat.

"Star I don't think this is such a great idea..." He said trying to climb out of the ride.

Star grabbed Marco by the sides and pulled him back into the coaster.

"Nope we are doing this together!" She said putting his safety bar down.

"Okay..."

"Let's get this show on the road!"

The machine lurched forward and out of the waiting and seating area. It winded its way higher and higher into the sky on an almost vertical slope. Soon the vary top came into view.

"Star..." Marco said with a look of terror as it peaked at the vary tip of the tower.

"Woooooooo!" Star yelled and flung her arms into the air.

Then the roller coaster fell at break neck speed downward toward the ground.

"AHHHHHHHH." Star and Marco screamed.

Wind gusted into their faces as it plummeted. Then it swooped into a loop-d-loop and twisted into a spiral. It snaked up and down over and over again until plunging downward once more.

As the ride pulled to a stop the screams faded. Stars face was stuck in a mix of utter terror and delight but Marco on the other hand...

As the bars lifted Marco raced out of the ride and ran to the nearest garbage can and proceeded to puke in it. Star walked up to him.

"Motion sickness... Kind of forgot about that..."

"Star its fine just give me a min-Bluuuuuh!"

"It's going to be a long day." Marco thought himself.

Star and Marco walked through the huge crowd of people eating cotton candy.

"First a roller coaster then a log ride, a sky dropping thing, bumper cars, a Farris Wheel and then more roller coasters! How much more awesome can this day get!" Star exclaimed between bites of cotton candy.

"Just you wait!" Marco said his voice filled with energy "Tonight there's gonna be an epic fireworks show!"

"Hey what's that over there?" Star said pointing to a red and pink coloured ride.

"Oh that? That's just the tunn-"

"Can we ride it?"

"Well ya but I don't think you underst-"

"We totally have to ride it!" Star exclaimed grabbing Marcos hand.

"But Star its only f-"

"Come on let's go!"

Star yanked Marco over to the pink ride; it was covered in hearts and had swans floating on a small river. Yes you probably guessed it by now Star was dragging Marco to a tunnel of love.

Star eagerly got in line with Marco who had given up trying to explain what the ride actually was. Soon enough it was their turn. A swan gently floated up to them. They climbed into the crimson velvet love seat barely big enough to fit two people (subtle manipulation at its best!). The swan slowly edged forward into the heart shaped tunnel. Star in her mind thought there would be a drop off or some other crazy thing but to her dismay nothing happened.

"Marco when does the ride start?" She whispered to her brown haired friend.

"Star I've been trying to tell you that this is the ride!" Marco whispered back.

"Well what are we supposed to do?"

"This ride is meant for couples you're supposed to come in here to well... kiss."

Star began blushing madly "Oh."

A silence drenched the two as blood rushed to their faces. They couldn't tell though due to the pitch blackness. Suddenly the ride stopped.

"Hey what's going on?" Star asked.

"I don't know i think the ride stalled."

More awkward silence filled the air. But then a voice echoed over the loud speaker.

"Hello all riders! The pulley system that drives the ride has been jammed and should be fixed soon. Thank you for your patience!"

Marco groaned and rests his head on the back of the seat. After a while he heard something... It sounded like chattering teeth...

"Star are you cold?" He asked the darkness.

"Ya I'm a l-l-little ch-ch-chilly but I-I'll be f-f-fine."

Marco hadn't noticed because of his hoodie but it was actually really cold in the tunnel.

"Here Star." He said taking off and handing her his hoodie. "Take this you need it more then I do..."

"R-r-really? You'd d-d-do that f-for m-m-me?"

"Really."

She slipped on the red hoodie and instantly began to warm up not to mention the smell of Marco was quite comforting.

"Thanks Marco."

"N-n-no p-p-problem."

"But now you're cold!"

"I-it's f-f-fine, really."

"No it's not! Hmmmm I have an idea! We could use our body heat!"

"Uhhh I-I d-d-don't know a-about tha-"

But before he could finish Star had wrapped her arms around him in a bear hug. Marco tensed at first but soon relaxed and cuddled up to Star. The two sat blissfully sharing each other's warmth until...

"Attention folks the ride is back up! Thank you for your patience!"

Suddenly the ride began moving again and the two teens parted. As they exited the ride Star spoke up.

"About what happened back there, thanks, for you know, lending me your hoodie." She said handing the red garment back and blushing bit.

Marco laughed nervously "No problem."

They headed back to the trailer to meet up with Mr and Mrs Diaz.

Later that night just before the fireworks display...

Marco laid out a red and black checkers blanket for him and Star. It was dark out and the stars had just started to reveal themselves. Star walked over in a teal and blue sweater holding a thermos of hot chocolate for them to share. Mr and Mrs had set up their blanket beside them and were cuddling on it waiting for the show to start.

"There! Perfect, everything is set up we got the blanket, the binoculars and a piping hot thermos of hot chocolate!" Marco said sitting down on the blanket.

Star sat beside him "I can't wait this is going to be awesome!"

The fireworks show started and explosions of colour and light illuminated the night sky. The crowd responded with ooo's and ahhh's as well as clapping.

After a while Star leaned her head on Marco's shoulder. This took him by surprise and he looked over to see her asleep. Marco laughed "Too much excitement for one day eh?" He said to himself. But Marco too after a while also fell asleep leaning his head on hers.

Mr and Mrs Diaz giggled when they realized what was going on. The show ended and Mr and Mrs carried the two "pájaros del amor" back to the trailer.

 **I hope you all liked the chapter! Also just so you know pájaros del amor means love birds! (Cant get enough of that starco!) Hopefully the next chapter should be up soon. -Unluckywrites out**


	5. Author's Apology and a One-Shot

**Authors Note**

 **Well to start things off i just have to thank you all so much for all the support! You guys are just so awesome! Now on a more somber note, i have to make an apology. The next half of chapter four will not be released before my trip on Monday so you guys will have to wait around two weeks before it's out. The original idea was for them to become pool pirates in order to get Star's wand back, but I started to realize half way through that my idea was just way to ambitious for just one chapter. I might make it its own au later and start another story after this one though because i really like the concept. To make it up to you guys that part 2 won't be released for two weeks I wrote this little one-shot in my spare time. It takes place between parts one and two of chapter four. So without further delay here it is!**

Midnight Pillow Fight

Marcos soft brown eyes opened to a dim room and blonde hair. He brushed away some of the princess's hair and removed some more from his mouth. Lately Marco had learned something about Star; she was a restless sleeper often moving about in her slumber. Now Marco would have been absolutely fine with knowing this... If he didn't have to put up with it.

"Stupid hair... Stupid Star..." Marco grumbled to himself rolling over.

It was a peaceful night, the sound of cars and the occasional semi truck in the distance filled the silence. The soft yellow glow of the campgrounds lights creeped in from between the blinds of the trailers windows.

Marco looked over to Star who slept quietly. Marcos frown softened at the sight. He had a hard time staying mad at the blonde haired princess.

Stars eyes flitted open and she yawned.

"Marco... I wish you would stop moving around so much at night." She whispered groggily and rolled over to face him.

Marco was dumbfounded at what he had just heard. "Me? Me move at night? Oh please! You move way more than I do! Just tonight you woke me up with your hair... again." He whispered back.

"Pffff big deal!" She playfully whispered to him.

Marco smirked "Oh really?"

"Really!"

"Well big deal this!" The boy whisper shouted and poked Star in the side.

Star quietly giggled "Hey stop that!"

Marco contained his laughter and responded by doing it again. Star continued to giggle barley able to stop herself from bursting out laughing. But Marco's reign of terror was ended when stat hit him in the face with her pillow.

"Take that!" She whispered valiantly.

Marco grabbed his pillow out from under himself up pointed it at Star.

"En garde!" Marco replied.

The two became locked in a duel to the death (in Stars mind at least). They made sure to keep quiet though lest they wake up Mr and Mrs Diaz. Marco got a hit but then star came in from the side, the battle raged on until...

Marco's pillow swooped in from the left Star blocked it but her pillow was knocked out from her hand. Star looked up at Marco in horror. Marco smirked, victory was in his grasp.

"Aha! I've got you know!" He whisper screamed raising his pillow into the air.

But before he could make the killing blow Star in a last ditch effort pushed him over onto the bed.

"Look whose winn-" Star's boasting was stopped by Marco grabbing her and pulling her down onto the bed. She landed half on top of Marco.

"Hey!" Star quietly exclaimed.

Marco grunted and pushed her off and she landed on her face. Star laughed, rolled over and pushed back. The two broke into a fit of quiet giggles as they had a shoving fight.

But then out of the darkness the sound of a tired Mr Diaz called out from the dark.

"Will you two be quiet already! Some people are trying to sleep!" He said half asleep.

Star and Marco stopped their fight and looked at each other. They both laughed and settled back to bed.

Marco turned to face Stars sky blue eyes. "Goodnight Star." He said with a laugh.

Star giggled "Goodnight Marco."

 **I hope you enjoyed that little one-shot and it makes up for waiting for chapter four (I said a whole lotta for's in that sentence). Anyways, I will see you guys in two weeks, give or take a couple of days!**


	6. Surprise! Part 2: Juice Bar Fight

**Hellooooo fanfiction! That's right I'm back with another chapter of The Diaz Family Roadtrip! After two weeks camping and traveling it's nice to get home and back into the swing of things (Including fanfiction). Thank you guys so much for all the reviews, favorites and follows, you're all so awesome! I'm really glad you guys like the story so far. There's not much to say about this chapter so I'm just going to let you read it for yourself! (I own nothing!)**

* * *

The Diaz family walked into the water park section of Golden Wood, dubbed Pirates Bay. It was a fairly large park with a pool, slides, a lazy river and even a juice bar. The morning sun had already begun tracing its path across the sky. The cool of the morning was beginning to burn away.

Star stretched out her arms and looked around at the slowly forming crowds "Today i want to do nothing, just relax by the pool!"

"Agreed." Marco breathed a sigh of relief. After the exhilarating and slightly awkward events of yesterday a well deserved rest was needed for the both of them.

"You kids go and have some fun we're going to relax in the hot tub!" Mr Diaz told them while walking away with Mrs Diaz.

"Meet back here around six!" Mrs Diaz added.

"Ok we will!" Marco called back.

"What should we do first?" Star asked

"I think some sun bathing is just what we need! Besides it's almost noon anyway."

Star tilted her head in confusion "What's sunbathing?" She said pausing for a moment "Does in involve fire..." She said with a sly grin.

Marco laughed "No Star it does not involve fire..." He started walking and motioned for her to follow "Here I will show you what sunbathing is."

The two walked off to go find a spot to sunbathe before none were left.

Star and Marcos day of relaxing had gone just as planed (for once). After they finished sunbathing they simmered in the hot tub for a while, went swimming in the main pool and floated down the lazy river (which went pretty smooth except for Star trying to flip over Marco ending in them both getting wet).

Now they sat in the crowded juice bar enjoying a variety of fruity drinks. Plastic palm trees, tiki heads, and bamboo fixtures surrounded them. The mummer of many people talking and laughing completed the ambient effect.

Star let out a squeal of delight as she savoured the tangy flavour of her pineapple smoothie dancing on her tongue.

"Wow Marco! Earth food is the best!"

Marco took a sip of his raspberry lime swirl. "Sure is." He takes another sip "Trade?"

Star nods and they swap drinks. Stars eyes suddenly shut close as she takes a big gulp of Marco's smoothie.

"Ow, ow, ow! Marco my head hurts!" She says rubbing her forehead.

"Don't drink it to fast you'll get a brain freeze!"

"Thanks..." Star winces. "...For the warning!"

Marco laughs while sipping Stars pineapple smoothie. "Don't mention it!" He says, straw still in his mouth.

Star looks at Marco and puts on a fake glare and they both burst out laughing. Marco gets up off of his bamboo bar stool still laughing a bit "I have to go to the washroom, I'll be right back." He walks off and starts manoeuvring his way through the crowded bar towards the bathroom.

Star sits by the bar waiting for Marco and quietly humming a tune to herself. Life is good to the two today. But just as everything was starting to go perfect for once...

Three girls push open the swinging bamboo doors to the bar with a loud slam and strut in, heads held high like they own the place. "Make way simpletons!" The obvious leader of the pack says in a shrill and condescending voice.

They walk past the other seating areas and up to the main bar. But to their displeasure it was full except for where Star is with an empty spot to her right and Marco's (now empty) spot to her left. Star sits blissfully unaware of the impending onslaught as the three girls lock on to her.

"Oh my my what do we have here?" One of the girls begins.

Star turns around to face the three; they remind her of Brittany...

"Move out of the way fatty!" Another girl adds in.

"Fatty?..." Star is confused by the rude gesture, still unsure of earth culture.

"Ya that's right, now get out of our spot!"

"Oh no this isn't for you guys Marco and me are sitti-"

"Not anymore! You and your stupid Marco friend are going to have to move." The leader of the pack demands.

"Hey don't talk about Marco like that!" Star valiantly tries to defend her friend.

"I will say whatever I want you ugly little failure!"

Star was beginning to understand what was going on.

"Hey that's n-"

"Ya and your stupid Marco friend? He doesn't need you, no one does! I bet he'll find someone better to hang out with and leave like all your other friends will when they realize how stupid and ugly you are!" Another girl chimes in and they all laugh.

Star now fully understanding the situation starts to feel the hot burn of tears rising into her eyes and her hearts start to glow. She looks downward to hide her face.

But just before the next round of insults came...

"Ahem." A voice called from behind the girls. They turn around to see a VERY angry Marco. Star even from where she was could see he was trying really hard to not drop the three of them to the floor.

"If I ever hear you talk to Star like that again I'll-"

"Do what? Slap me? Ask me to stop? Oh please you couldn't even manage to do that you wea-"

"Let me make this very clear, if you don't shut your big mouths in the next sixty seconds I will do it for you."

The girls were taken aback by the violent statement and the anger filling his voice but they didn't give up the charade.

"Ya right, is that the best you got? Why don't you go cry beside your stupid friend." The girl said defiantly.

"Listen hags." Marco hissed in a steely tone "You talk trash about others thinking you're so much better than the rest of us, but when you go home and look in a mirror and all you'll see just another pathetic loser wishing they were as cool, beautiful and totally awesome as Star."

Stars frown was by now flipped upside down and the tears drained from her eyes. Sorrow and hurt replaced by confidence and strength.

"Now get out of my sight." Marco said forcefully pointing towards the door.

"You think th-"

"I said get out."

"Like I wo-"

"Are you people deaf? I said get out now." He said forcefully.

The girls became infuriated and stormed off in huff, but they weren't done just yet...

"Thanks Marco." Star said with a smile along with a slight flicker of rose red on her cheeks.

"Any time, those jerks deserved it anyways." Marco replied.

Star paused for a second to think and bit her lip.

"Did you really mean all that stuff you said about me being awesome and beautiful..?" She asked.

Tension filled the air while Marco reacted to the question (blushed profusely).

"I uhh..." He began, but before the question was answered the two were interrupted by a little surprise the girls had sent.

"Hey!" A deep and manly voice called to them.

Star and Marco turned around to see a boy around there age who obviously worked out. He had creamy brown hair and amber eyes that glistened in the fake torch light. He was also a bit taller than Marco and had huge muscles.

"My girl told me you called her a hag is this true?" He asked Marco.

Marco tensed he knew if he answered honestly he might have to fight the boy. Sure he knew karate but that didn't mean going against this guy was going to be easy. He could lie but Marco decided he wasn't going to back down on his best friend.

"Look I don't have anything against you, but your girlfriend is horrible, so yes i did call her a hag."

The hulking beast of a boy paused for a moment and put his finger on his lip.

"Well I think we both know what has to happen." he began but before he could finish another voice called out from the crowd who was intently watching the scene.

"BAR FIGHT!" The voice screamed.

The once peaceful crowd broke into chaos. Punches and plastic cups went flying as mass anarchy overcame the juice bar.

"Dang it every time!" The boy cried out in annoyance "I was going to say we had to talk out our problems and resolve our feelings!"

Marco looked at the boy "Well it's been nice talking to you and we hate to flee in terror but we got to run, I don't plan on getting mugged anytime soon." He said grabbing Stars hand.

The boy looked at Marco and nodded hurriedly "Agreed."

And with that Star and Marco bolted towards the exit. Dashing out of the bar was like playing a game of dodge ball except the balls were plastic cups, fists and chairs. The two weaved out and around people all while ducking and dodging the flying objects. Finally they burst out of the bar and tumbled onto the cool wet tiles of the pool.

Marco crawls up to and leans against a fake wood lamp post. "Ughhhh." He moans "Why does stuff like this always happen!"

Star sits up and rubs her head where a plastic cup had made its mark. "I think your just bad luck."

Marco chuckled and then winced in pain. "I think were both bad luck." He replied and the two laughed.

Just then Mr and Mrs Diaz walk up in sunglasses and tropical themed shirts. They looked at Star and Marco's sorry state. "Ay caramba! What happened to you two?" Mr Diaz asked the two.

"Don't ask..." The two replied in unison, something that had been happening quite a bit lately...

Later that night...

Marco walked back from the camp bathroom to the trailer. The cool air fluttering through his pajamas like they weren't even there. His steps gravel on the gravel road crunched their way through the night. He walked up to the trailer and opened the door. It swung open with a creaking sound. He looked around and saw Star lying fast asleep on her half of their shared bed.

Marco took of his flip flops and stepped inside. He crawled over Star into bed his side of the bed.

"Star?" He whispered.

He waved his hand in front of Stars face to make sure she wasn't awake.

"About earlier..." He paused, voice hushed by the night "I really do think you're beautiful."

There was no response from Star. Marco smiled, "Goodnight Star." He whispered.

He rolled over and went to sleep. It was then that a smile cracked across Star's face. "Goodnight Marco." She whispered to herself.

* * *

 **And that's it for the two part chapter! Now I can get back to writing about their travels, Ludo's plan and so on. I hope you liked it and I will see you guys in the next chapter!**


	7. Marco Magic

**Authors Notes**

 **Hey guys it's me again! First off I'd like to thank everyone for all the reviews and follows and favourites and so on. This community is so supportive and great! Now I'm sorry to say that updates won't be as frequent as before due to school being back on and such. Hopefully I can aim for around a chapter a week give or take a couple of days. As for this chapter I wanted to have some emotional development in it and make it more angst-y in the beginning. I know that's not everyone's cup of tea but I thought I'd give it a shot. So please enjoy and read on! (I own nothing!)**

* * *

Star paced around the campsite. It had been a quick four hour drive from the amusement park to where she stood now. They had come to stay the night at pine ridge state park, a small outcropping of forest in the otherwise empty desert.

Right around now is when she would be off exploring the park with Marco but this time she was deep in thought. In fact the very thing she was thinking of was Marco. They were steadily closing in on the destination, the wedding, and the closer they got the more she thought of this wedding, or to be more specific the dance that preceded it.

Memories of the blood moon ball came back like a wave every time she thought of it. Her feelings still not been completely sorted since then, if she likes Oscar then why did dancing with Marco feel so... perfect? And if that wasn't enough to top it all off the close quarters of the trip had been diminishing the already small amount of personal space between the two. They are literally sleeping in the same bed for crying out loud! It's almost as if a external force wants them to be a couple...

So here she was pacing her way round and round the campsite. It was a very nice site; it was spacious, got lots of sun and was relatively private. Also not being too far from the bathrooms was nice.

"Star are you ok?" Marco asked watching Star go round and round.

Marco had also been fretting about the approaching dance. He has been having conflicting feelings about it. On one hand he can't wait for it, and although the blood moon ball ended pretty badly the dance with Star was a blast. On the other hand he really doesn't want to dance with her, she likes Oscar and he likes Jackie, and the dance is romantic in nature. Although the blood moon ball was romantic and that was fun... This is all very confusing for Marco.

Star tenses at Marcos voice "Ummm yea I'm... I'm fine!" She says laughing nervously and blushing a bit unable to help herself.

Her mind races, what she needs is a distraction.

"Marco I'm bored we should do something!" She lies. Star doesn't like lying to Marco but what's she going to do, tell him what she's thinking? Not going to happen.

Marco gets up from his foldable camp chair and stretches "We should go and explore this place!"

"Sounds great, let's go!" Star says desperate to escape her thoughts. So with that two wander off to go explore the park.

15 minutes later...

"Man this park is small! It took us like only fifteen minutes to explore the whole camp and hike the mountain trail!" Marco exclaimed as they trotted back to camp.

"Ya I was expecting the trail to take a lot longer!" Star concurred.

Star was now back to her bubbly personality and her worries were all but forgotten, for now at least. But the days challenges had just begun. Star and Marco were yet to face their greatest adversary today. A mighty power looming over them like a mountain. The great enemy... boredom.

Star moaned. It had been an hour since they got back and she had literally nothing to do.

"Marcoooo... I'm bored!" She whined.

Marco was at the moment lost in a good book sitting beside Star. He had picked it up at the theme park. Trying his best to ignore Star's antics he willed himself to stay focused on the book.

"Marcoooo!"

Still nothing.

"MARCO!"

"Ok jeez! What do you want?"

"I told I'm bored!"

"You should have bought a book when i told you it could have been handy right about now!"

"But reading is BORING! We need to think of something actually fun!"

Marco closed his book and threw it on a chair beside him.

"Alright miss butterfly, what do you propose we do?"

"Hmmmmm..." Star began nibbling on her wand.

"Ahah! I got it!" Star exclaimed "Why don't I try magic spells on you!"

"Woah, hold up I don't think that's a good idea, remember monster arm?"

"Ya that did end pretty badly... Hmmmm... how about I teach you how to use the wand!"

"I don't know..."

"Awww come on I can't end THAT badly!"

"Alright then, still I don't think this is good idea."

"Don't worry Marco it's going to be awesome!"

Star takes Marco's hand and they wander off to an open field they found while exploring.

"Alright, the first order of business we need some test dummies!" Star begins "Super duper dummy blast!"

A group of small figures appears in the glittering smoke left by the beam. When the smoke clears it is revealed what they look like...

"A bunch of Jeremy's!" Marco exclaimed.

Star laughed "Ya it will help you focus or... something, anyway first grab the wand."

Star stretched out her hand and passed Marco the wand. Marco grabbed hold it and held it in his hand for a bit before it started to glow.

"Star what's happening?"

"It's transforming!"

The wand let out a flash of light and stopped glowing. It now had a deep red leather handle and the wings were now replaced by two black downward facing spikes. The main part of the wand was now red and black and instead of a star in the middle there was a flaming fist insignia.

"Woah!" Marco gasped.

"This is your version of the wand!"

"Cool! But... how do I actually do stuff with it?"

"Well... Basically just say a spell or whatever and it will do the rest." (As you can tell Star is an expert)

"Uhhhh ok how about... FIRE FIST FURY!"

A fist shaped pulse of fire blasted out from the wand and burned a Jeremy dummy to black ash. Star and Marco looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Star... that was... AWESOME!" Marco shouted, magic energy coursing through his veins.

"Marco magic..." Star whispered in awe. "Do another one!"

"Ok ok! Ummm... CATASTROPHIC KILL KICK!"

This time a glowing black ninja kick streaked out and vaporized one of the dummies. It was at this point Star and Marco began to get carried away...

"Do another!"

A seething red dragon with licks of fire coming from its nostrils eats a Jeremy.

"Another!"

A Phoenix bursts forth and its flaming wings consume two Jeremy's.

"ANOTHER!"

Marco and Star laugh like madmen. "NEGA NUCLEAR NUNCHUCKS!" The boy screamed.

A massive fiery blast of flaming nun chucks devastates area. The field they were in now reduced to nothing but ashes. Marco pushed himself up from the dirt and looked around the scene. A couple of splintered and ashen trees, zero grass and a small crater with flames scattered to and fro.

"Maybe its time we stop..." Marco said worried. The park ranger was due to show up any time now.

Star rolled over from laying face down in the dirt. "Ugh."

"Star we should go before the- " the sound of a door closing cut Marco off.

The two turned to see a very confused and very angry park ranger. "What in the name of..."

Marco gets up and slowly back away along with Star. "Star..."

In an instant the ranger turned and looked at them with pure hate "YOU TWO!"

"RUN!" Marco said bolting off with Star, the ranger following in hot pursuit.

But unknown to them the whole time they were being watched and the stalkers were none other then Buff Frog and Lobster Claws!

"Look the boy he can use the wand!" Buff Frog said in surprise.

"We should try and take the wand from him, imagine how happy boss would be!" Lobster Claws suggests.

"Good idea, we will strike tonight when one of them has to get up and go to the washroom!"

The two laugh evilly and skulk back into the bushes...

Later that night...

Marco shifts in bed.

"I shouldn't have had that huge pop the strange red man offered to buy me before bed!" Marco chastised himself under his breath.

He looked over to see Star sleeping peacefully and his heart fluttered. He rolled his eyes and sighed, blaming it on hormones. Crawling out of bed he grabbed his toothbrush (probably should have brushed his teeth earlier but hey what the heck?) and headed off to the bathroom.

The trailer door closed with a click and Marcos footsteps slowly faded away. Star opened one eye to make sure he was gone. She then proceeded to swap their pillows. She would never admit to it but the smell of Marco made her feel at ease. So every night since it happened by accident on the second night she would switch pillows if she had a chance. She sat in the darkness. Now all that was left to do was to wait for Marco to return so she could sleep in peace.

Meanwhile...

Marco stepped out of the camp washrooms having relieved himself and brushed his teeth.

He breathed in the fresh night air "Ahhhh all better!"

Then out of the bushes Buff Frog and Lobster Claws appeared!

"Got you now!" Lobster Claws taunted.

"Ya hand over the wand!" Buff Frog added.

"You two? I don't have the wand!"

"It's right there in your pocket!" Lobster Claws said pointing to the pink handle of his toothbrush protruding from his pajama pocket.

"No it's not th-"

Before he could finish the two assailants attacked. Marco would have used his karate but he couldn't see in the dim moonlight.

"AHHHH!" Marco screamed while fleeing in terror.

Back at the trailer...

Star was getting worried; Marco still had not come back.

"Hahaha don't worry he probably just got lost... wait that's also bad." She said trying to calm her worries.

Star decided to go check on Marco, hopefully if he still was in the washroom it wouldn't be two awkward.

She came up to the bathroom and no lights were on which meant Marco had left and something happened to him. She bit her lip.

"Marco... Marco where are you?" She called out into the silence, not even a cricket made a sound.

That was when she heard a faint scream echoing through the darkness. She instinctively ran towards the sound... directly into the forest.

"Marco?" She desperately called out.

"Star!"

"AHHHHH!"

She quickly looked around but there was no one there, that she could see at least...

"Up here!"

"Wait... Marco?"

Star looked up to see Marco in a tree silhouetted by moonlight.

"Quickly get up here!"

She climbed up the scraggly old pine and sat beside him on one of the branches.

"What are you doing up here?" She asked.

"Buff Frog and Lobster Claws think I have the wand so I had to hide up here."

"Oh... well what do we do now?"

"Do you have the wand?"

"Nope."

"Dang I was-"

Marco was cut off by the sound of Buff Frog taunting from below.

"Come out come out where ever you are!"

Star and Marco held their breathes and clung together up in the tree. But then out of nowhere a pan flew out of the darkness a nailed Buff Frog in the face. Soon after another pan hit Lobster Claws. The two monsters scrambled into the darkness and fled through a portal.

"Were saved!" Star exclaimed.

"Maybe not..." Marco said hushed.

A tension filled the night air.

"You can come down now!" Mrs Diaz called from below.

Star and Marco let out a breath of relief and climbed down the tree. When they got down Mr and Mrs Diaz were standing there.

"How did you now we were here?" Marco asked his father.

"We came to check on you guys when we heard Star scream from the woods." Mr Diaz answered.

Everyone laughed and headed back to the trailer. When Marco crawled into his sleeping bag he could swear that his pillow smelt like Star, he just shrugged it off and went back to sleep.

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 **That's all for now, I'm planning for things to get more dramatic in the next chapter. Ludo's secret plan will finally be revealed! Thank you guys for reading and have good one!**


	8. Through the Storm

**Authors Note**

 **Greetings readers! How's everybody doing? Thank you all so much for reviewing, favoriting, following and just flat out reading this story! I'm amazed every time i post a new chapter! And thank you TRYharD-SHERLY for that absolutely MASSIVE review, I'm glad you like the fic so much and I will try to work in more of those special moments! Now onto this chapter, it's... intense. This is my first attempt at writing something quote unquote dramatic. Don't fret through because after this we will be to the silly** **light hearted** **adventures! I hope you enjoy and I will see you at the bottom of the page! (I own nothing!)**

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Marco was awoken with a jolt to the side. His eyes peeled open to the morning light. He sighed; Star was back at it again with her tossing and turning. Deciding it was no use to try and fall back asleep at eight in the morning he crawled over the sleeping Star and got up.

Star flopped over and smiled groggily with her bright blue eyes still shut to world.

"Marco why do have to keep waking me up?"

Marco chuckled "We've gone over this already it's you who wakes me up."

Star yawned and stretched out while Marco fixed his now greasy hair in the mirror. Showers are hard to come by on the road.

"You know what you can do to make it up to me?" Star began.

Marco smiled and rubbed his temples, she obviously was ignoring his argument. Marco decided the best course of action was to just go with it.

"What can I do to make it up to you Star?"

"You can make me some breakfast!"

Marco laughed and walked to the door satisfied with how his hair looked.

"One get on Star's good side breakfast coming up!"

Star giggled.

"Now that's what I like to hear!" She said with a fake authority.

Marco grinned and opened the door. He took a step into the morning air chilled from the night previous.

"Off to make the princess some breakfast." He said to himself.

Mrs Diaz stepped out of the Mewni style trailer and were surprised to see Star and Marco happily eating nachos for breakfast.

"Why are you kids up so early?" Mrs Diaz said half yawning.

"Marco woke me up!" Star exclaimed.

Marco rolled his eyes and Star giggled.

Mr Diaz stumbled out of the trailer and looked around "Nachos for breakfast? You kids sure are weird."

Marco laughed "Don't nachos count as breakfast?"

"Hey I'm not complaining!" Mrs Diaz said walking over to the picnic table.

Mr Diaz shrugged, "I don't see why not it is vacation after all!"

Mr and Mrs Diaz sat down with the kids and the four enjoyed some of Marcos super awesome nachos for breakfast.

A couple miles later...

Marco pressed his face against the car window. "Ugh more desert."

"Don't worry honey only a bit more desert left." Mrs Diaz reassured from the front seat.

The miles crawled by boringly but the peaceful drive was about to be interrupted. The sky was shifting, brilliant flat blue faded into a broiling dark grey cloudscape.

"Marco..." Star said looking in a combination of wonder, fear and excitement at the brewing storm.

"Looks like this is going to be a big one..." Marco mutters to no one in particular.

An eerie quiet befell the four, while waiting for the sky to pour. Still they drove on until all of the sudden it began... The sound of thunder rattled the sky; rain fell like bullets punching into the dry desert dirt and beating the metal vehicle as it drove. Star was utterly captivated, nothing on this scale occurred in Mewni.

"Wow..." Chills ran down her spine.

"Ya it's pretty awesome." Marco said staring at the swirling vortex of cloud and rain above him.

"The weather here is so, massive!"

Marco nodded.

After a bit of stressful driving Mr Diaz finally had enough of the weather and pulled over onto the side of the road. It was nearly impossible to see in the dim light and pouring rain.

"Alright everybody we're going to sit here for a while until this storm passes." He announced.

"Kids do you want some snacks?" Mrs Diaz asks Star and Marco.

"Ya sure!" They reply together and then look at each other quizzically.

Mrs Diaz laughs and hands them some granola bars "Here you go."

While waiting Star and Marco hum to the tunes quietly dancing out of the radio and Mr and Mrs Diaz read some old magazines they found in the glove box. After a bit the rain began to calm down, it seemed the storm was finally passing.

"Guys i think it's almost over!" Marco exclaimed.

Oh how wrong he was, oh so wrong...

"Awwww." Star moaned, she was quite enjoying watching the lightning and rain.

"Well I think it's time we get going again!" Mr Diaz said happy to get back on the road.

But just as he put the key into the ignition a massive bolt of lightning shredded open the clouds and down came the second wave. Not rain this time though it was hail.

Stars eyes grew wide as the balls of ice fell. Marco was shocked as well not by hail (he knew what that was) but by the sudden turn in the weather.

"Marco, Marco! Look the sky is dropping little snow balls!" Star exclaimed excitedly.

"Those aren't snow balls Star they're ice balls, it's called hail." Marco said worrying a bit, he had a bad feeling about this...

The hail came down in a quick burst. The sound of hail dinging off the car rang into the ears of the Diaz's. Unfortunately if the hail wasn't enough things were about to get worse...

All of the sudden the radio stopped pumping music into the air and the digital clock went black.

"What just happened?" Star asked, she had no concept of electricity, sure Marco told her about but as far as she was concerned it was all magic.

Marco stared into space grimly. "The battery died."

Star however had learned enough to know that the battery is where the electricity magic came from and if it died it stopped making that magic.

"Well what do we do?"

Mr Diaz joined the conversation. "If the battery is dead the vehicle won't start and that means we can't drive to cover if the hail gets worse."

"Once the hail stops someone will have to go walk to the nearest gas station and ask for a jump start." Marco said anxiously.

"I will go." Mr Diaz said heroically.

"I actually think it would be better if me and Star go that way we can be protected by Star's magic." Marco says not as heroically.

"I don't know." Mr and Mrs Diaz replied.

Star now voiced her opinion "Ya me and Marco could go, I can protect us from the wind and rain!"

Mr Diaz looks to Mrs Diaz for confirmation. She looked back with sorry eyes.

"I think it's the best option we don't want to be stuck out here if even bigger hail hits." Mrs Diaz says.

Star bounced up and down in her seat with lively energy, mostly because she wanted to see what the storm was actually like. Meanwhile Marco was racked with fear, this was the real deal and there was a serious chance of major injury or worse...

When the hail relented the two dashed outside into the storm. The rain rode the wind, slashing into the two with ferocity. The howling wind sucked the air from their lungs. Star instantly regretted wanting to go out into the storm, it was nothing like she imagined.

"Marco where are you!" Star yelled above the wind.

"Over here!" A voice called from the storm.

The two meet up at the hood of the car and locked hands, braving the storm together, and oh how bravery was needed. With all its might the storm lashed out upon the two.

"Use your magic!" Marco yelled into Stars ear.

"Ok!" She shouted back "SUPER STARFISH SHIELD ULTRA!" A glowing shield of magic appeared and took away the brunt of the wind.

"Let's start moving!" Marco weaved his arm between hers so that they would not be separated.

Mr and Mrs Diaz watched anxiously as the kids trudged forward into the gale, soon vanishing out of view.

Meanwhile Star and Marco were in a losing battle. Even with the shield it was still hard to keep moving. They were both soaking wet, shivering, their arms and legs numbed and face's wind burned. To make matters worse Star was having a hard time keeping the shield going for some reason.

"Marco I... I don't know how long I can keep this shield going!"

Marco pulled her closer "Just keep going you can do it! I know you can!"

His words were empty though, as in fact Star could not keep the shield up for much longer. It started with a flicker and then a few more and then finally...

"I'm sorry Marco!" Star yelled out.

The unthinkable happened, the shield failed. The wind came back with a blast and started to erode away their strength. Marco stumbled and the harsh wind pushed him over into the muddy earth.

"MARCO!" Star screamed out.

Marco lay on the ground shivering, his legs were weak and without feeling. He wasn't about to get up anytime soon. Star limped over to him with what little strength she had.

"Star you need go on without me. I will just be dead weight come get me later!" He shouted to her above the wind.

"Not going to happen Diaz! I'm not leaving you here like this!" She shouted back at him.

She lay beside him and cuddled up to preserve what shreds of warmth they had left. Star looked over and saw Marco's pale face, about to shut its eyes.

"No, no, no Marco stay with me!"

Marco did not let out a sound. Star shook him vigorously.

"No no no!" She said with fear, her heart was pounding and her tear filled eyes burned.

But there was nothing more she could do except succumb to the ever increasing storm. She closed her eyes for what she thought might be the last time cold, numb, soaking wet and right beside Marco...

Marcos opened his eyes and regained his consciousness. He was wet, cold and every part of him ached... and wait where was he? Looking around he could see he was inside cab of a truck lying lengthwise; Star was curled up beside him. The truck bumped up and down as they drove. He looked out the window and saw the pitter patter of rain on the window, the Storm was over. The storm... Something about a storm, that's when it hit him...

"STAR!" Marco jumped into action checking Star for a pulse and brea-

"It's okay kid she's alright, what were you doing out in the storm anyway... actually scratch that I don't want to know." A man upfront said in a southern drawl.

Marco was startled but shook it off "Who are you? And why are we here?"

"Saw you two passed out on the ground in the storm, right now I'm taking you two back to the gas station. My name's Leroy by the way."

A gas station... Marco thought to himself.

"This will sound kind of random... but do you have any jumper cables?" Marco asked the man.

A while later back at the trailer...

Star and Marco huddled together under a small red woolen blanket on the step outside the Mewni style trailer. They went outside to be by themselves, just the two of them. Inside Mr and Mrs Diaz were talking with Leroy, the man who found them. They had obviously apologized profusely to Star and Marco and said some stuff about never letting something like this happen again and whatnot.

Star wrapped her arms around Marco. She treasured the warmth coming from his body and most of all, his heart beat, the signature feature of being alive. It pulsed quietly and rhythmically in his chest.

"That was close..." Marco croaked into the damp air.

He looked up. The clouds were breaking apart. Cathedrals of light cascaded down to earth refracting in the drizzle left over from the storm. Star was also gazing up towards the sky and was just able to catch a hint of blue.

"Ya, two close." Star said tightening her grip on him, the thought of losing Marco never actually had come to her mind until today, it scared her.

"Hey do you want me to go get something for us to eat?" Marco asked the princess clinging to him.

"Naw just stay right here for now. This is more important." She said resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes.

Marco smiled, getting Star to let go of him was going to be a challenge. But this didn't matter because he wasn't about let go any time soon.

* * *

 **And that's it folks! Anyway like I said this was a first attempt at dramatic writing and I hope you liked it! As for Ludo's plan, there's actually a hint in the story it's kind of vague but who knows you might be able to figure it out. Till next time -Unluckywrites.**


	9. Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

**Authors Note**

 **Hey guys it's me again! First off I'd like to thank you guys for all the support, it really means a lot to me. Secondly I'm going to be going on a weeklong hike starting next week. For this reason i have delayed making the two part chapter on Ludo's plan until after the hike. The original plan was that I would make both chapter's in one week but this way just makes it less stressful. As for this chapter, I designed it to be a fun light hearted fluffy one to counteract the dramatic tension of the last chapter. This chapter is also pretty long (I kinda got carried away with the starco moments but hey what can say?). Anyway I will just leave you all to read on! I hope you enjoy and I own nothing!**

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Star leaned against the railing of the lookout point. She took in the sight before her, a vast maze of gullies and crevasses cut into the orangey sandstone. One could easily get lost in the tangled mess. Puffy white clouds drifted across the sky in a sea of brilliant blue and a dry dusty wind fluttered through her hair. They were at a lookout point by the highway that cut through Red Ravine National Park. The crew had stopped to take a break from the constant driving. Star didn't understand the name as the rock in the ravine was clearly orange, but she just dismissed it as more earth weirdness.

Marco walked up beside her and took a gulp from his water bottle; the midday sun was relentless.

"Hey pass me some water." Star asked him without even turning her head.

Marco passed her the bottle and leaned up against the rail beside her. Star took a swig and handed it back.

"Man it sure is hot, wouldn't stink to be stuck down there?" Marco said while looking over the canyon.

Star laughed "You know it, what would you even eat?"

"I don't know maybe bugs or something."

"Ewwww gross!"

"Hey you gotta do what ya gotta do when surviving in the wild!"

She laughed and got up from leaning on the rail.

"Hey I'm going to go use the washroom." She said pointing towards the direction of the bathrooms.

"I'll come with you, I have to go to."

They both strolled off to the washrooms. They came around the other side of the trailer got a good look of the washrooms. Turns out washrooms wasn't the right term, the correct word was outhouses, or in this case outhouse.

Star and Marco glanced at each other for a brief second.

"I'm going first!" Star yelled out as she darted off towards the outhouse.

"Oh no you're not!" Marco shouted back while running after her.

The two both grabbed hold of the door handle and started to tug it between themselves.

"Give it up, it's mine!" Star said in a flustered tone.

"There's no way you're getting it!" Marco fought back.

"Ladies first!" She said tugging at the door.

"Earthlings first!" He replied tugging the door to himself.

They went back and forth like this for a solid fifteen minutes, bickering like two siblings. This was something only earned by a strong and enduring friendship... or a need to pee, one of those two at least.

Eventually their little tug of war devolved into an even more pathetic petty slap fight.

"Marco!" Star whined

"Star!" Marco whined back

"Would you two just shut up!" Mr Diaz moaned from across the look out. "You're like an old married couple, except young and able to physically attack each other so it's even worse!"

Star and Marco paused for a moment and looked each other in the eye... and then continued to fight.

Mr Diaz sighed and rubbed his temples. "Kids..." He muttered o himself.

Star and Marco were getting tired, soon one of them would give in or a choice would be made as to who got to go first. But lucky enough for them they wouldn't have to because at that moment Star tripped on a rock and fell backwards down the hill beside the washrooms.

"Marcooooooooo!" Her voice faded out of earshot.

Marco looked on in horror as his best friend fell down a ravine. Without thinking he ran after her proceeding to trip and fall as well.

He rolled down the dusty hill into a smooth slide-like gully of wind polished sandstone.

Marco started to slide down it. Up ahead he saw a tunnel into the rock. Star screams echoed from inside the quickly approaching cave.

"AHHHHHH!" Marco screamed as he flew into the tunnel at high speed.

From within the tunnel he saw in the distance a pin prick of light that slowly began to grow. With a bit more screaming Marco was thrust into the blinding desert sunlight. Flailing about as he falls for a few seconds he lands face down in the dirt right beside Star who is in the same position. He spits out the dry sand and groans.

"Why does this always happen to us?" He mumbles through the dirt.

Star rolls onto her back "Like i told you before after that juice bar fight your just bad luck." She says drearily.

Marco grunts in response and pushes himself up out of the sand. He looks around at his predicament. They are in a small ravine, or in better words a pit. It's about the size of large family room with smooth sandstone walls that rise two and half stories above them. The only other interesting things are a dead tree in the corner and a small cave that leads to who knows where?

"How on earth are we going to get out of here?" Marco said utterly stupefied.

"Why don't we try and climb out?" Star replies and stands up.

Marco runs his hand down the stone wall.

"It's way to smooth, there's no way we could climb out. Lets try and come up with some ideas..."

"Ideas? You know what this calls for don't you?"

Marco nods in agreement.

"A montage!" They both say in a sing song voice.

-ATTEMPT ONE-

"Look up there what's that?" Star said pointing to the chute they just came from.

"Oh isn't that the hole we fell out of?"

"Yea I think your right."

"Well let's try and get up to it maybe we can climb out the way we came?" Marco suggests.

"Well it's worth a shot."

The hole sat about one story off the ground and was made of the same sandstone the wall was made of.

"How are we going to reach it?" Star asks.

Marco pauses for a bit before coming up with an idea.

"Here Star get on my shoulders." Marcos commands.

"What?" Star replies quizzically.

"Just do it..."

"Ok ok! Calm down there wild man!" She taunts.

Marco rolls his eyes and kneels down for Star to climb on. She gets onto his shoulders and Marco stands up, they're a little wobbly but they manage to stay upright.

"Ok now Star try to grab the hole and climb into it!"

Star tries, oh she tries alright but her feeble attempts are to no avail.

"I can't it's too smooth!" She says letting go the wall.

Marco begins to wobble again.

"Oh no no no!" He says frantically.

"Ahhhh!" They scream and fall over with a thud into the sand.

"Well that didn't work..." Star mumbles.

-ATTEMPT TWO-

Star face palms "Duh! We can just use my wand to get out of here!"

"Do you know the right spell?"

"I think I might...I'm just going to go for it!"

"Maybe that's not a-"

"FANTASTIC FEATHER FLIGHT BEAM!" Star yells out.

It charges up... and nothing happens...

"Man what is up with my wand? It's stopped working ever since that storm!" She says hitting it with her hand.

"Well I guess we're back to the drawing board..." Marco says with a sigh.

-ATTEMPT TWENTY SIX-

"For the billionth time Star we can't just climb out of here!"

"Well then I don't know what to do we tried everything, yelling for help, climbing the tree, building a ladder out of the tree, we even tried to levitate out with the power of our minds! That's like half an hour of my life I will never get back!"

"Ya ya I know..."

The two paused, thinking in the rapidly fading daylight.

"There is one thing though; we could go through the cave..."

Star the whole time they were stuck in the gully had wanted to go through the small cave. It sat mysteriously in the corner opposite of the tree just waiting to be explored and it was driving her crazy. Marco however did not have the same thirst for discovery and adventure as Star did...

"I told you already we can't, we have no idea where it leads and we could just end up getting more lost!"

"What other choice do we have?"

Marco couldn't deny that, they had tried everything and that was the only thing left to do...

"Alright fine." Marco said finally CAVING in (Man I'm hilarious!).

"YES FINALLY!" Star shouted in relief.

"But we leave tomorrow, it's getting late and we best get some rest." Marco added.

Star frowned "Alright..."

The two set about building a campfire with the pieces of the dead tree they broke off to build a ladder. But as they were collecting the dry dusty wood Star saw some small creature by the cave. It was sitting in the twilight watching them.

"Marco... What is that?" She whispered pointing over the strange creature.

Marco glanced over and saw it too.

"I don't know, But I think it's going to be dinner..." He said picked up a rock.

Marco threw the rock at it. The rock was dead on and hit the small furry animal. It squealed and then died. Star and Marco walkover to see a dead possum laying in the sand.

Later that night...

Marco stared at his meal, half of a small roasted possum. He couldn't do it, he couldn't eat the school mascot. It felt wrong, like he was betraying an old friend.

"Forgive me..." He whispered into the night air.

He bit into it, its meat was tough and tasted sour. The taste of betrayal.

"Marco this tastes weird." Star said looking at her half in disappointment and disgust.

Marco pulled himself together.

"Ya well it's all we got so eat up!" He replied and then forced himself to take another bite.

After finishing their meal the two sat by the crackling fire talking and laughing shaded by the glittering veil of desert stars.

"And that's why Ferguson will never eat kiwis!" Marco said with a chuckle.

They both laughed into the crisp night air.

"You know Marco I'm kinda glad we got stuck down here, this is actually nice." Star said blushing a bit.

"Me too." Marco said, eyes shifting away from Star.

He looked up and their eyes locked onto each other. Marco's soft brown eyes glistening in the flickering fire light, Star's eyes catching the dancing flame as well. Indigo moonlight flowed down onto the two teens sitting by the fire and the small pit they now called home.

Marco often forget how pretty Star actually was, but in the fire light it was all too apparent. A warm flutter made his heart skip a beat and he flushed red.

Star didn't pay too much attention to Marco's looks; after all he was just her friend, no _best_ friend. But in the soft orange glow of the fire she couldn't not notice how handsome he looked. Not only that but he had the cutest blush on his face, something that caused her to blush as well.

The moment lasted a precious few seconds until the silence was broken by Marco speaking.

"We should probably go to bed; we will need the rest for tomorrow..." He said looking away.

Star laughed nervously "Yea thats a good idea."

They started to get ready for bed, mostly by each clearing the spot they would sleep in of twigs and rocks. Eventually under stars and by a warm fire they fell asleep in the sand.

The next morning...

At first dawn all was well. Star and Marco slept peacefully as the sun crested the horizon. Soon the heat of the day would be back.

Marco shifted in the sand; he was awake but kept his eyes shut tight. He thought for sure that he would have woken up in the middle of the night due to the cold but for some reason he hadn't. The reason was revealed when it stirred right beside him. Marco's eyes shot open and he froze. Star was cuddled up beside him, presumably to escape from the cold.

She mumbled something inaudible and snuggled up even closer. Marco stiffened.

"Great now what do i do?" He whispered to himself.

Five minutes later of tedious manoeuvring...

Star opened her eyes to see Marco desperately trying to slip away from her. She jumped backwards and skidded off to the side, her eyes wide with apology.

"Oh! I'm so so sorry!" She yelped.

Marco had jumped back to "Its ok that was just... yeah." He said stopping awkwardly halfway through the sentence.

A awkward quiet came over them as they refused to look each other in the eye.

The awkwardness was done away with when Stars stomach growled. She looked up at Marco and put what happened to the back of her mind.

"Marco I'm hungryyyyy!" She moaned.

Marco let out a sigh; he was also getting pretty hungry.

"The only way we can get any more food is if we escape from here..."

"And that means..."

"Going through the cave..." Marco said sombrely.

"Yes!" Star jumped for joy, her dream was finally a reality!

"Alright gather up your things we-"

"What things?" Star asked with a smirk.

Marco looked around there camp. A possum skeleton, remains of a fire, dead tree and some rocks were all they owned at the moment. (It was a modest life style)

"Oh yea, kinda forgot we don't _have_ anything."

"Whelp this just means we get to go through the cave sooner!"

Marco gulped; he was not looking forward to going through this cave.

Star turned around and looked at him "Wait your not scared are you?"

"No!" He replied defensively "...ok yeah I'm a little scared."

"Don't worry Marco I will protect you!"

Star yelled valiantly and grabbed onto his hand.

"Into the void!" She shouted with valour. With that the two ran into the small cave. Upon entering the cave a foul smell wafted into their noses.

"Eww why does it stink so much in here?" She asked Marco.

"This is probably were the possum we ate lived..."

Marco shivered, bad memories man.

"Hey Marco look up ahead!" Star said pointing at a light in the distance.

"Yea I see it!"

The two increased their pace through the cave and soon enough they were out of it's dingy halls and on a sandy hill leading down into a ravine.

A voice called from the top if the hill. It was Mr and Mrs Diaz! They had been desperately looking for the two ever since they fell down the hole.

"KIDS!" Mr and Mrs Diaz screamed in delight.

"Mom! Dad!" Marco called out. He pulled Star along up the hill.

At the top of the hill the kids were greeted with a bone crushing hug from Mr and Mrs Diaz.

"We thought we lost you two!" Mrs Diaz said while wrapping the kids in her arms.

"Don't you guys ever do that again!" Mr Diaz added holding back the tears.

Marco laughed "We'll try not to fall down any more pits!"

Star was simply amazed by the moment with the Diaz's; her parents never had group hugs like this! She wasn't even Mr and Mrs kid and here she was being included with them in a group hug! The whole thing just made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Eventually the hug broke up and the group stood around in a circle.

"Alright we got a lot of driving to catch up on so go to the washroom and let's get on the road!" Mr Diaz said with a smile.

"Alright!" Star agreed "but first can we uh... get something to eat?"

* * *

 **Wooo! That was one long chapter! I hope you guys liked it, i tried to sprinkle some starco-y moments in there along with the random goofy adventures. I will see you guys in a week and a bit, that's all for now!**


	10. Another One-Shot

**Authors Note**

 **Ok, so I'm posting this the day before I leave for the hike, I know I said that the last chapter would be it before I left buuuut I had this awesome idea on the bus ride home and could not not write it so here you go! (P.S. This takes place just after the previous chapter.)**

* * *

-Diaz Family Sing Along-

Marco stared aimlessly out the back seat window of the car. His phone had long since lost its charge so there was no music to console him on the long stretches of driving.

He looked over at Star who was filling in a coloring book she picked up earlier (using the wrong colors of course). Marco thought she was a bit too old for coloring books but hey, it's not like he had a better idea of what to do.

"Hey mom can you turn on the radio?" Marco stated mutely.

"Yeah sure i don't see why not!" Mrs Diaz replied in her typical joyful tone.

The radio burst into life with a crackle and fizzes before a pop and then silence. Marco barely reacted.

"Just great." He sighed.

"Don't worry we can fix it in the next town." Mr Diaz replied.

"Yeah but what will we listen to for now?"

There was a pause as everyone thought of ideas, except Star who was deeply engaged in the artisan craft of coloring.

"We could sing." Mrs Diaz suggested.

"Sing? Sing what?" Marco was not convinced.

"I don't know, whatever we want, we could make it up as we go!" Mrs Diaz said smiling.

Star perked up and decided to join in leaving half the page uncolored.

"Ooo ooo can I go first!" Star exclaimed with excitement.

"Yeah go ahead!" Mrs Diaz was all for family singing time.

"Ok ok here I go..."

Marco looked over in mild amusement. "This should be good" he thought to himself.

In Marcos mind he saw Star as one of those people who thought they could sing but in fact could not. He imagined her singing at the top of her lungs with a huge smile in a slightly crackly voice. So when he actually heard her _sing_ it was more than a little shocking to say the least.

Star: "Driving down the road with family and friends!"

Marco stared in awe with his mouth agape. Her voice... it was joyous yet soft, vigorous yet smooth, ecstatic yet silken, it was amazing.

After a slight shell shocked pause Star spoke up again.

"Come on now Marco it's your turn to sing!"

Marco snapped out of his trance "Oh me sing? No no I don't sing you see I-"

"Ahhh come on you can sing!"

"Well what should I sing then?"

"Just what comes from the heart, you know make it up as you go!"

Star had purposely put him on the spot. She had never heard him sing and thought it was about time she did. She imagined him singing in an awkward way akin to his normal mannerisms, but she got something completely different...

Marco: "I hope this drive never ends!"

Star was just as shocked as Marco was when she sang. Turns out dancing wasn't the only thing he inherited from his parents as Mr and Mrs Diaz now joined into the family song.

Mr Diaz: "We've got a long way to go!"

Mrs Diaz: "If we'll make it I don't even know!"

Everyone giggled at her line; it had been quite the adventure so far. A wide smile creased Stars face as she began to sing again.

Star: "Earths so great and I just can't wait to see some more!"

Marco: "Who knows what this new world has in store!"

The song was in full force now and everyone sang together.

All: "Yes it's the Diaz family road trip!"

All: "We won't stop driving even when the sun starts to dip!"

Everyone got lost in the song, Star and Marco even began to sing a cheerful duet.

Star and Marco: "Late nights and monster fights!"

Mr and Mrs Diaz happily followed the two teens lead.

Mr-Mrs Diaz: "Car chases and far off places!"

Star and Marco: "An amusement park and playing in the dark!"

Mr-Mrs Diaz: "Relaxing by the pool and stopping for some fuel!"

Star and Marco: "How far will we roam?"

Mr-Mrs Diaz: "Before we finally make it home!"

"Guitar solo!" Marco yelled out and pointed to Star.

Star instantly started to play air guitar and make random "guitar" sounds with her mouth. Everyone burst out into laughter.

"That was awesome!" Star shouted excitedly.

"Yeah we should totally form a band!" Marco said grinning from ear to ear.

Mr Diaz laughed "What would are band name be?"

"How about: Marco and those other three!"

Everyone else in the car rolled their eyes and let out a groan.

"Oh give me a break!" Mrs Diaz whined resulting in a chuckle from Marco.

"Oh come on I know you guys like it!"

"Forget about that!" Star said waving off Marco's foolishness "we should make some more songs!"

Star took in a breath and began to sing again. The whole family lost in each other's company and the sound of four joyful voices singing the day away.

* * *

 **I hope you all liked the story, the singing is to no tune in particular, it can be whatever you want it to I guess! Thanks for reading and see you in the next chapter around a week from now! (I own nothing!)**


	11. Hotel Havoc part 1: Star vs Questions

**Author's Note**

 **Hey guys! Man this week has been crazy, that's why it's taken so long to get this chapter up. Hopefully once everything calms down again I can start posting more regular updates. Also I watched the season finale and _IT WAS AWESOME_! What a way to end the season, I can't wait until the next one! But I guess for now fanfics will do. Speaking of fanfics here is the next chapter of The Diaz Family Road Trip! This one's a three parter (woah!) because it's all about Ludo's plan! I hope you like it, see you at the bottom!**

* * *

Star's blue eyes reflect the blue haze they opened to. She goes to take a breath and pool water rushes into her mouth. Realizing she is about to drown she claws her way through the water to the surface of the pool. Star bursts out of the water's surface, gasping for air.

"What the..." Star says looking around.

She pulls herself out of the warm water and steps onto solid ground. She's standing by a rippling crystal blue pool. The tiles are a dusty brown colour and the whole are is surrounded by mosaic sandstone walls. Desert sunlight flitted down through the open skylight and strikes the water's surface.

She lets out a painful moan, her lungs hurt her eyes hurt and most of all she has a splitting headache. What she needs is someone to share her misery with, Marco would do.

"Marco my head hurts! And where on mew- I mean earth are we!" She demands.

But no answer came, not even a peep.

"Marco..?" she asks the silence quizzically.

Star begins to look around for her best friend, she spends the next hour searching for him in the sun lit pool area, change rooms and up and down the hotels hallways (she had deciphered that she was in a luxury hotel through her exploring). But for the first time since she arrived on earth Marco was nowhere to be found, not even a hint on his whereabouts.

Something bothering her even more is the fact she can't remember anything. The last thing she can recall is singing in the car with the Diaz's, after that nothing.

"Where is Marco?" Star grunts with an undertone of worry.

She begins to head back to the pool that she woke up in, maybe Marco had turned up there to and just maybe he knew what was going on.

As Star walked she admired her surroundings. The hotel itself was beautifully built with rich stained wood furnishings and exquisitely carved sandstone walls polished to perfection. Under foot was a browny-beige carpet ordained with many intricate patterns and desert imagery. They certainly had spared no expense when building this place. One thing the builders did forget to do though was add and exit to the hotel... strange. As it seemed they didn't want her leaving. But indeed the question is who exactly are _they_? *cough* Ludo *cough*

The heavy door to the pool swung open and to Star's amazement Marco was in his bathing suit relaxing on a lawn chair as if everything was normal.

"MARCO!" Star screamed

She jumped and tackled him in a massive bear hug. But something was off, he wasn't hugging back. The whole hug was feeling very uncomfortable which bothered Star, not enough that she would let go though.

"Ummm can you uh let me go... Miss?"

Star's eyes shot open and she released her vice-like grip. _Miss_. Marco never calls her Miss, maybe Miss Butterfly on certain occasions but not just plain old _Miss_.

"It's me Marco, your bestie Star?"

Marco got up and began to brush himself off.

"I've never seen you once in my entire life." He stated mater-a-factly.

Star laughed "Come on Marco stop messing around!"

"No seriously I've never seen you before and my names not Marco it's... huh... I don't really... remember."

Star looked at him with her mouth agape and eyes the size of basketballs.

"You don't even remember your own name or more importantly, _me_? You know the magical princess from another dimension!"

Marco burst out laughing.

"I'm pretty sure I would have remembered a ridiculously gorgeous crazy girl who thought she was magic and on top of it all was my best friend!"

"Crazy! Marco you have seen me use my magic! We... wait did you just call me gorgeous?"

"Well yeah you are quite good looking, but hey what do I know I can't even remember my own name."

Star's face turned vivid pink and her heart fluttered. Marco was way too casual about admitting this; normal he would be a awkward ball of nerves but for some reason he acted as if it was just a normal conversation.

"Anyway your magic you were telling me about?"

Star shook off the blush and cleared her throat.

"Behold... my magic wand!" Star said holding her wand high in the air, reaching for sky.

Except there was no wand and her hand was empty. Marco snorted "Magic, suuuuure."

Star stared in shock at the spot her wand should be.

"WHERE'D MY WAND GO?" Star finally screeched. "WE NEED TO FIND MY WAND!" She darted around the pool area desperately trying to find her wand.

"Woah calm down there Miss Magic, why don't you just relax here with me, get to know each other a bit if you will, I'm sure you'll find your wand or whatever later."

"NO YOU DONT UNDERSTAND IF I DONT HAVE MY WAND LUDO COULD-"

"Shhhhh, you're going to be fine just take a seat." Marco said patting the chair beside him.

"No no no this is bad, Marcos gone all weird, I don't have my wand and I'm stuck in some hotel prison!" Star said pacing around the pool, completely ignoring the fact that Marco (her best friend) was clearly hitting on her.

"Weird? As if!"

"Ugh you're no help at all!" She said dismissively.

Marco shrugged and Star sighed in annoyance.

She ditched Marco and began to frantically look around for her wand. She just knew Ludo had a hand in this! Star ran up and down the halls and this time even went into each room but it was nowhere to be found, just like the non-existent exit. On yet another note she also had no idea where Mr and Mrs Diaz were either.

"Ugh what's going on?" She moaned dejectedly.

But as she went to rest she accidentally placed her hand on a laundry chute and fell through.

"AHHHHHHH!" Star screamed whilst plunging into the darkness.

Star shot out of the cold steel chute and landed with a thud, not in laundry but a filthy old mattress. She pushed herself up off the dusty old thing and took a look around. It was pitch black.

Suddenly the darkness was banished by a light and in front of her stood a shadowy female figure. She was wearing dirty all black clothes and wrapped around her waist was a ratty old utility belt.

"STAR!" The figure yelled out in excitement while running over and hugging the life out of her.

Star knew that peppy voice all too well...

"Mrs Diaz?!" Star exclaimed

The figure took off the hood to reveal like Star had guessed, none otter then Mrs Diaz.

"Yes Star it's me!"

Star wrapped her arms around Mrs Diaz and hugged back, right now she was the closest thing to having her bestie around.

"How... where... what's going on!" Star asked while the two parted.

"I will explain everything just come with me."

Mrs Diaz led Star through a small ventilation shaft until they reached a well lit room of steel siding. The floor was cold concrete and large spot lamps hung from the ceiling, it was basically a bunker. On the wall were hundreds of notes and plans and in the centre of the room was a scale map of the hotel made of old garbage and bits of wood.

"What is all this?" Star said looking around the mess.

"I've been stuck down here trying to find a way to save you guys." Mrs Diaz replied dimly.

"Save us? From what?"

"From uhh what's his name, the little skinless bird man who tries to steal your wand."

"Ludo?"

"Ya him! He put all of you in a trance like state so he could get your wand, I managed to escape though and have been living down here ever since trying to find a way to save you, Marco and Mr Diaz."

"LUDO HAS MY WAND?!"

"Calm down! Yes he does have it but he can't use it, he has a crystal at the top of tower by his throne that shuts down all magic in a couple miles radius. That's how he caught us in the first place."

"What do we do? Marco and Mr Diaz are stuck it that trance and Ludo has the wand!"

"Maybe if we can find a way to save Marco and my husband, together we could get your wand back."

"Well let's go save them!"

"That's the thing I don't know the cure, I've tried everything, hitting, scaring, last night I tried splashing Marco with water and that didn't work either!"

They two paused for a minute under the fluorescent glare of the hanging lights until Star spoke up...

"Well I woke up in a pool which might give us a clue..."

"A pool? But normal water doesn't wake you up, unless..." Mrs Diaz said pausing for dramatic effect. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Star said turning away from looking at the miniature map of the hotel.

"The cure! The chlorine in the pool water must have woken you up! You probably slipped and fell into it while in a trance, your own clumsiness saved you!"

"YA!" Star yelled proudly. It was not often her rambunctious and clumsy behaviour paid off.

"Now we just need to come up with a plan to save the others..." Mrs Diaz said and the two turned to the table, set out on saving Marco and Mr Diaz.

Meanwhile at the top of the hotel in Ludo's thrown room...

"What do you mean Star is out of her trance!" Ludo squealed in rage.

"Well... Uh... Sir I mean Star is out of trance..." The two headed monster muttered nervously.

"AHHHH! You idiots are screwing up my most brilliant plan yet! You know how much this cost to pull off!"

"No sir I don't kn-"

"A _LOT_ of money!"

Ludo jumped off of his throne and started to pace around.

"It's a good thing I came up with a backup plan, I knew you morons would screw up the first one!" Ludo mumbled.

"Tomorrow we pay Star's precious karate boy a visit..." He said laughing evilly to himself.

* * *

 **And that's part one! Sorry if this chapter seemed a little... I don't know... dry? It's mostly just setting up for the action and espionage planned for the next two! See you guys in part two (which will be hopefully up a lot sooner than this one was!).**


	12. Hotel Havoc part 2: Star vs Marco

**Authors Note**

 **Before I posted this chapter I took a step back. 12 chapters with over 22 thousand words and 34 favs 44 followers and 43 reviews! It absolutely boggles my mind that this many people want to read the stuff I write, like _wow_! Thank you all so much, I was truly not expecting it to become so popular! Now that my sappy drabbles are over we talk about the story! I'm really glad you guys liked last chapter! How this all happened will not be revealed in this one though, I'm saving that for last! This chapter was more about development for Star and Marco and also a build up to the epic Ludo boss fight! Anyway this note is getting pretty big so I'm going to leave you with that, happy reading! (I own lots of nothing).**

* * *

Star slide through the darkness tracing behind Mrs Diaz as she led them through a maze of ventilation shafts. She was dressed in an all black outfit mirror to Mrs Diaz's and was fully equipped with deadly weapons (water balloons they had filled with pool water).

They had discovered that the cure to Ludo's mind eraser was chlorine something often found in pool water. Star had no idea what exactly chlorine was, something called an element? Earth science very much eluded her grasp, probably due to the fact she lived in a dimension almost wholly dependent on magic.

As they crawled Star recounted their plan once more in her head. When they got to the upcoming meeting point Mrs Diaz would head off to cure Mr Diaz while Star would go cure Marco, the two would then grab their respective targets and reunite at the previously specified meeting point. After the whole lot of them would head back to base to think of a way to defeat Ludo and get back Star's wand. The plan was air-tight, sort of, of course with their luck some unforeseen wrench in the works would get in the way.

"How much farther?" Stars voice echoed in the steely tunnel.

"Not long now."

Mrs Diaz was right, within thirty more seconds they were at the fork in the vent.

"Here we are!" Mrs Diaz said, turning around and flashing Star a bright smile.

"Alright!" Star reflected back the smile.

"Ok we both know the plan, you get your man and I'll get mine. We meet back here in twenty minutes."

"Ok sounds good... Wait what exactly do you mean by my ma-"

"No time just go!"

Mrs Diaz shoved Star down her path and turned to go down hers. As Star bumbled her way through the darkened corridor the hours (minuets) crawled by for what seemed like eons to Star.

"Ugh when will this thing end?"

A cool breeze washed over her face, it wasn't long now.

"FINALLY!" Star yelled in a whisper.

In front if her a small grate let in the cool night time hues and down below she could she Marco sleeping in his plush hotel bed. Star cooed, was he always this adorable when he slept?

She quietly lifts the metal grate and places it off to the side and then slips through the small hole landing in the bedroom with a hushed thud. She tip toes up to Marco and gets ready to strike, water balloon held high.

"Here we go..." Star whispers as the balloon leaves her grasp.

But just before the balloon lands on Marcos face his eyes shoot open and he doges it, rolling onto the floor and into a fighting stance.

"HEY WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" He yells.

Star blinks at him in surprise. How did he know?

Marco was frozen in moonlight, he wearing some rather luxurious silken burgundy pajamas and had a frenzied look of terror on his face. This reaction was justifiable though as Star was wearing a hood with black cloth around her face only revealing her eyes (Ninja style as she called it).

Star remained silent and stared blankly at the flustered teenager.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY ROOM?"

"..."

"ANSWER ME!"

Star finally chooses the best course of action by using cool headed logical reasoning (raw gut feeling) and tosses another water balloon at Marco. Marco easily doges it.

"HEY!"

Star stares at him for another second before bolting around the room like a crazed animal. Alas to her dismay all the potential exits were either locked or blocked so a swift escape was not to be had.

Marco watching the scene and not knowing what to do tackles her to the ground and pins her arms down to make sure she can't escape.

"Who are you and why are you in my room! And why won't you talk!" His face inches from hers and with an intensity not normally found in him.

Unfortunately for Marco his aslant was a lot stronger then he had estimated. She flips him over into the exact opposite position with Star pinning Marco to the ground. Marco desperately tries to squirm free but it was all for not, that is until Star's grip waved in the slightest.

The two become entangled in a tussle on the bedroom floor. The balance of power shifting to and fro, eventually though Marco gains the upper hand. Star exhausted and sore gives up trying to escape and Marco rips of her mask revealing his attackers identity.

"CRAZY POOL GIRL?"

Star sighed, she had been wondering (when she wasn't fighting her best friend) how new Marco thought of her, was this how real Marco thought of her deep down too? Did he think she was crazy? This whole memory loss deal was raising some painful questions.

Marco stared wide eyed "Why are you attacking me?"

"I was uh..." Star was knocked out of her thoughts and needed to think of a lie fast "Giving you a... surprise night bath?" Star moaned, her lie sounded even dumber out loud.

"A night bath? Seriously?"

"A SUPRISE night bath!" She was now mental slapping herself over and over.

Marco raised an eyebrow "Tell me the real reason."

Star paused should she tell him? "Fine i will tell you... I was trying to make you remember me."

"Man this girl's crazy." Marco mutters to himself.

"Look, I don't know who you are! I'm sorry but yesterday was the first time I have ever seen you!"

Star huffed this was going too far "No it's not! We used to fight monsters all the time together; Ludo the leader of the monsters erased just your memory!"

Marco laughed "You do know what you sound like right?"

Star threw him off and stood up, last balloon in hand. This time she was not going to miss, she wanted Marco back and nothing was going to stop her.

"Hey what are you-"

"You're going to remember whether you like it or not!" Star said forcefully.

The balloon flew out of her hand and whizzed through the air, hitting Marco dead in the face, a direct hit.

A yelp of joy slipped from Stars mouth and Marco got up and shook the water off his face. Star flashed him a vivid smile. The two would now be able to take down Ludo and get back her wand. Each could hold their own pretty good separated but _together_ they were unstoppable.

"Happy now that you drenched me in pool water?" Marco hissed.

The cure hadn't worked.

The bright smile faded from Star's face and was replaced by bitter tears filling her eyes. This was her last chance, he only way to get him back. Without him she was clueless on how she could retrieve the wand.

"I... I'm just going to go." Star turned away from Marcos glare and walked over the the vent.

She pulled a chair over and jumped back up into the steel chute. Peering down the grate she watched Marco dry his face and crawl back into bed all the while mumbling something to himself. When he fell asleep a quiet sob dared to fill the steel tunnel.

The mission was not a complete failure though for Mrs Diaz had been successful in saving her husband.

"Star!" Mr Diaz exclaimed. He crawled up to her and gave her a warm hug.

"Hey." Star smiled half heartedly.

"Star what's wrong, and where's Marco?" Mrs Diaz asked with pleading eyes.

"I... I splashed him with the water but it didn't work."

A deathly quiet came over the three.

Mrs Diaz looked over to Star. "Well there is not much we can do now. We have to just head back to base and try to take down Ludo without Marco."

"How on mew- ugh... earth are we going to do that?"

Mr Diaz spoke up "I think I have an idea..."

Marco yawned as soothing morning light pushed its way through his room's thin silk curtains. His eyes blinked open and he rolled off his bed... and then stepped in a puddle of water.

"What the..."

The patch of wet carpet wasted no time in reminding him of the events that occurred the night previous.

Marco moaned, what was up with that girl? He racked his mind but he couldn't find anything. And it wasn't just her; his past came to him as a collage of faint blips that didn't really mean anything.

A knock on the door derailed his train of thought.

"Hello?"

Maybe that girl came back to apologize or something. Marco grabbed the door knob, it turned with a satisfactory click and the door swung open.

A heavily built man stood before him in a jet black suit, Marco thought he looked like a lawyer.

"Hello I'm from the _Logistically Unified Department Of Security And Radical Measures Y21-5._ " (L.U.D.O.S.A.R.M.Y)

"Uhhh huh and why are you here?" Marco was just about done with all the weird events in the past couple of days.

"We need talk, about your blonde haired friend." The man said while taking a step inside and closing the door...

Star and the Diaz Parents bolted through the corridor. Their brilliant plan at getting the wand was working, sort of. Of course Ludo's henchmen were hot on their tail and all, but they had penetrated the top floors of Ludo's tower. The three burst into the lobby before the throne room and sealed the door behind them.

"Alright Star you go face off Ludo when you're ready give us the signal to destroy the magic blocking crystal!" Mrs Diaz shouted to the girl as the piled random furniture in front of the door.

"Alright and good luck!"

Mr and Mrs Diaz ran over to the ladder climbed up to the roof top when the crystal was held. After waving goodbye Star put the final touches on her barricade and ran down the hallway to the Ludo's lair.

But her path was blocked by a large wooden door with steel bracing; there was no way she was going to break it down without her wand. Luckily enough for her she spied a lever that had the obvious function of opening the door.

She raced over to pull it, her hand mere inches from the lever when a familiar voice echoed across the room.

"Up bup bup! I wouldn't do that if I were you." The voice taunted.

"MARCO? What are you doing here?!" Star gasped.

"I was told all about your little secret, and I'm here to stop you."

"What secret?"

Marco laughed slyly "Don't play games with me Butterfly! Your here to retrieve an experimental and volatile weapon... your wand per say? Commander Ludo explained everything to me, you being a spy and all."

Star was dumbfounded, what was he going on about?

"What are you talking about? Ludo tricked you, I'm not a spy I'm your best friend!"

"Right and my name's not Tyrone its Marco."

"Your name is Marco! And I'm getting that wand!"

"We'll just see about that!"

Marco cracked his knuckles and got into fighting stance.

"Let's get this over with gorgeous."

Star hesitated. Fighting a monster was one thing; her best friend though was something completely different.

She reluctantly went into a fighting position. This was for his own good.

"Your move handsome." If he got to call her gorgeous she got to call him handsome, for now at least.

Marco shrugged at the name and lunged at her with a flying kick but not before she noticed something strange. When she called him handsome his eye twitched ever so slightly.

Star dodged the attack with ease "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to take me down handsome."

There it was again, the eye twitch.

"I'm counting on it!" Marco stated confidently before striking again.

Star twirled backwards around Marco and threw a punch. Marco caught it and flipped Star around, catching her with his arm. As they continued it became apparent that they were just as much dancing as they were fighting. Spinning and twirling, punching and kicking. The two moved in near perfect symmetry.

Eventually both out of breath and only a little bruised from when one of them landed a lucky hit, they paused to catch a breath.

"Man your good!" Marco breathed.

"You're not bad yourself handsome!" The name had been growing on her.

She watched as Marco's eye twitched again. This was when a revelation came to her. The real Marco was still in there she just had to get him out, she had to shock it out of him. She had to act in a way she never normally would...

Star looked up at Marco and they locked eyes, a clicking sound almost audible in that very moment.

"So _handsome_ are we just going to keep playing around, or are you going to show me some real moves?"

She glided up to him and started to twirl her hair, a sly grin dressing her face.

Sentences failed the boy as a mental breakdown began to take place. The eye twitch became a full on head twitch as if mind wipe Marco was trying to repress real Marco.

"I... Uh... Stop-p It what are Y-you doing to me?" New Marco hissed with a mix of fear and anger.

Star bit her lip; she could tell he was almost there. He needed another small push to regain his memory's, something so shocking it would release him from Ludo's grasp.

So she kissed him.

Not on the lips mind you, but a simple peck on the cheek. And although it was nothing spectacular it did do the trick, Marco went over the edge and blacked out...

* * *

 **OoOoOo what happens next? And how did everyone lose their memory and get put in a trance? Find out in the next chapter! Till next time, -Unluckywrites**


	13. Hotel Havoc part 3: Star vs Ludo

**Authors Note**

 **Sup y'all! Welcome next installment of The Diaz Family Roadtrip! This is the third and final part of the three chapter series on Ludo's grand scheme! Also included is the back-story as to how everything ended up this way. The chapter is actually kinda like a two in one, switching from present to past every now and then. All of your questions should be answered (If I accidentally miss something tell me and I will be glad to answer your questions!) Anyway I hope you all enjoy reading, and I have a special announcement at the end of the chapter, see you there!**

 **(Man, I should really do something with all this nothing I own.)**

* * *

"Marcooooo..." A faint voice called out from the void.

Marco couldn't see anything, just blackness. His head was pounding and he had absolutely no idea what was going on at the moment. He also had an odd tingling sensation on his left cheek but right now that was the least of his problems.

"Marco." The voice was stiffer now, more crisp but still distant.

"Wha... Who, where am I?" Marco grunted out, his mind was all over the place.

"Marco!" Star's bright voice was instantly recognizable.

"Star? Where are we?" Marco said as a blurry myriad of colors filled his vision and slowly came into focus.

"MARCO!"

Marco was about to sit up but was tackled back onto the floor.

"Umff! Star I told you not to..." Marco trailed off, was Star... crying?

"Hey Star are you ok...?"

The blonde haired girl sniffled and let out a small chuckle.

"Y-yeah I'm fine, It's just for a while there I thought I lost you." Star tightened her grip on him.

"Lost me...? Star what's going on?" Marco asked very confused.

Star wiped the tears from her eyes and got up. She lent him a hand and Marco stood up in a dizzy daze.

"No time to explain, all you need to know is Ludo has the wand and we need to get it back!"

Marco stared at her dumbfounded.

Star runs across the room to the steel lever and struggles before it gives way with a loud thunk. The sound of large gears and cranks echoes through the massive room and the giant door slowly rises off the ground. The noise comes to a stop when the bottom of the door hits the ceiling.

"Come on let's go!" Stat said clutching Marco's hand.

Marcos let out a yelp as his body was unexpectedly jerked forward and the two ran down the hall to face Ludo in all of his, sort-of, might.

-Five days earlier just before the mind wipe-

Star sighed and threw her wand onto the middle seat of the car that had been piled up with jackets, wrappers and other random paraphernalia the two dumped there. She had been trying to fix her wand that had for mysterious reasons stopped working.

"Why won't that stupid thing work!"

She rested her head on the headrest and closed her eyes.

"Don't worry Star I'm sure it will be fine." Mr Diaz consoled from the front seat.

Star gazed out the window at the gilded sunset before her. The evening suns golden rays caught behind a shifting sea of clouds, letting them faintly glow. She lets out a yawn and shuts her eyes again, focusing on the constant sound of wheels against pavement.

A while later when the sun had long since ducked under the horizon the family's peaceful ride comes to an end. They pull into a small gas station beside a _very_ fancy looking hotel on the side of the highway. Around it spans endless flat desert resting under the tranquil shade of night.

"Odd to see such a fancy place all the way out here huh?" Marco says with suspicion.

"Yeah that is kinda weird..." Mrs Diaz agrees.

"Ahh well as weird as it may be it's apparently beside the last gas station for the next seventy two miles so we don't really have any options." Mr Diaz retorts.

The station was oddly deserted and for something right beside a luxury hotel, pretty junky. Pale white lights flickered and buzzed in the shade of the night.

"Man this place is creepy..." Marcos says as the engines purr subsides leaving a think quiet.

"It's ok were only here for a while, the rest stop we're staying the night is only a mile away." Mr Diaz says while he starts to pump gas.

"Hey kids!" Mrs Diaz began, "If you need to use the bathroom do it now the rest stop might not have one!"

"Ok." Marco said hopping out of the car and closing the door with a thud.

He walks around to the opposite side of the car and taps on the window Star happens to be currently using as a pillow. He lets out a soft chuckle at Stars face smooshed against the glass.

"Hey Star I'm going to use the washroom, you should to."

"F...five more minu... *snore*."

"Or not..."

Sighing with a smile he makes his way to the convenience store without her.

The glass doors push open and make a dinging sound to alert... absolutely no one, as the store is empty. Lit by a fluorescent glow the small shop is stocked full cheap junk food, all probably long out of date. A small unattended and worn counter stands near the door and in the far corner a small sign that reads "washroom". Below it a humble door with a brass colored key in the lock.

"Huh, this must be it" Marcos says walking up to the door.

Marco pushes it open and steps inside. The door slowly clicks close and a muffled yelp echoes from within, Marco doesn't step out again.

Back outside at the gas pump...

"Staaar... Star!" Mrs Diaz says shaking the sleeping princess.

"Eeeep!"

Mrs Diaz giggles and Star clears her throat.

"Yea Mrs Diaz?" Star says groggily

"Can you go check on Marco he is taking an awfully long time."

Star takes a deep breath "Fine... But Marcos going to get it!"

Mrs Diaz laughs, they were just like her and Rafael at their age... "Okay Star, thank you!"

Mrs Diaz watches from the front seat as she walks off to the small store and enters.

Ten minutes later...

Mr Diaz shifts in the driver's seat to face Mrs Diaz "Hey I'm going to go round up the kids, I don't what's taking them so long."

"Hmmm alright." Mrs Diaz replies and gives Mr Diaz a quick peck on the lips.

"Be back soon." She adds.

"I will." Mr Diaz gets out of the car and wanders over to the store.

Alone in the darkness Mrs Diaz waits as a couple of minutes becomes five, then ten, then fifteen. By the twentieth minuet a hint of dread tugs on her stomach, something is definitely off.

"Ok this has gone on long enough..."

She steps out of the vehicle and shuts the door. As Mrs Diaz walks to the shop her footsteps echo in the silence.

The shop door opens with jingle and her stomach drops when she sees the store empty...

"What is going on?"

With extra caution she creeps her way over to the bathroom and examines it before knocking on it's old wooden frame.

"H-hello?"

The silence is dreadful.

"Anyone there?"

Once again the room is still expect for an electric buzz emitting from the store's lights. With sweaty palms she pushes open the bathroom door and looks inside.

Nothing appears to be out of the ordinary. Just a small bathroom, a little grimy but for its credit it is residing in a gas station that happens to be literally in the middle of nowhere.

She steps inside and the door closes behind her.

All of the sudden the floor drops out from under her and she plummets down a narrow tube.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Mrs Diaz's screams in terror.

Just as sudden as the fall started it ends and she lands hard on a dusty old mattress.

Pain erupting over her body she manages to roll onto her side and open her eyes. She is in a cage, a cage on wheels to be exact. Out in front of her stretches a long dimly lit narrow hallway.

An eerie quite befalls as Mrs Diaz sinks deeper into thou-

*Snore*

"AHHH!"

Mrs Diaz's nearly jumps out of her skin and she slowly looks over to see where the frightful noise came from.

What she sees the one and only Bearicorn and two headed red monster sleeping on a bench beside the cage. She remembers seeing Star and Marco fighting them every once in awhile.

"Hey you two!" Mrs Diaz shouts at them.

*more snoring*

"HEY!"

"Stupid monsters..." She mutters under her breath.

"AHHHHHH!" The two (three?) scream in unison.

Mrs Diaz raises an eyebrow "Seriously? You guys woke up from that but not my yelling?"

"Hey don't judge us!" Bearicorn retorts.

"And besides you're the one in the cage!" The first red one adds.

"Why I am I in this cage anyway and what have you done with the others!" Mrs Diaz says as the two monsters start to push the cage down the hall.

"We're going to erase your memory!" Bearicorn replies nonchalant, Mrs Diaz lets out a small gasp.

The red monster punches Bearicorn "Hey we weren't supposed to say anything!"

"What it's not like she will remember!"

Mrs Diaz rolls her eyes at the monsters antics. She has to find a way to free herself...

-Back in the present-

Star and Marco stand at the base of Ludo's throne. The throne itself is facing towards the wall to give quote unquote dramatic effect.

"Well well well! Star Butterfly it looks like my new ally karate boy ha-"

"Ummm I'm not your ally... so..."

"WHAT!" Ludo flings the throne around to see Star and Marco standing before him.

Star smiles smugly at Ludo "I broke your evil grasp on him!"

"BUT HOW? WE MADE HIM IMPERVIOUS TO CHLORINE!"

Star begins to blush madly and Marco raises an eyebrow.

"Ya how did you save me?"

"Well um you see I kinda... kissed you." She said under her breath.

"What? I didn't catch that..." Marco says leaning in, making it worse for Star.

"I uhhhh... "

"Just spit it out girl!" Ludo calls from up on the throne.

Star looks away trying to hide the red in her face "To free you I well... kissed you, not on the lips but still... ya."

Now it was Marco's turn to blush.

"Saved by the power of love, how cliché." Ludo mutters.

"Whatever we're still going to kick your butt!" Star shouts.

"Ya!" Marco reaffirms still a little pink.

"Well how are you going when I have the power of the wand!"

...

"Uhhh guys, that's the signal!" Ludo yells up to the tower when the magic blocking crystal is.

Mr Diaz pokes his head out of the window "Are you talking to us?"

"KARATE BOYS PARENTS?!"

Mrs Diaz pops her head out beside Mr Diaz. "Hey Star! And wait is that... MARCO!"

Marco waves from below "Hey mom Hey dad!"

"Star how did you save him?" Mr Diaz calls from up in the tower.

Star blushes again "I'll uhhh... tell you later."

Ludo breaks up their little reunion "UGH THIS HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH!"

Ludo pulls a small lever beside his throne and the tower begins to shake.

"The tower it's going to fall!" Star says to Marco in horror.

"MOM, DAD GET OUT OF THERE!" Marco yells at his parents.

Mr and Mrs Diaz jump out of the tower in the nick of time as the tower crumbles into rubble. The crystal slams into the ground and a massive colourful pulse expands outwards engulfing everything.

When the glitter settles the Diaz's watch in horror as the wand becomes active again.

"AHAHAHAHA! STAR BUTTERFLY YOU LOSE!" Ludo shouts and then begins to twirl around in magical swirl.

"NOOOOO!" Star screams at the top of her lungs as Ludo begins to utter his first spell.

"SUPER SHADOW VILLAIN TRANSFORMATION!"

A blast of purple and black energy shoots out.

"Star gets down!" Marco yells tackling her to the ground.

When they get up the two gasp in horror...

Ludo stands as tall as a two story building in his "big boy body". The wand is now a large black sceptre to match his new look.

"TRY AND FIGHT YOUR WAY OUT THIS TIME BUTTERFLY!" Ludo roars (actual roar this time!).

-Back in the past-

Mrs Diaz finally gave up trying to escape and flopped on the back on the old mattress.

"Ugh its hopeless we're all going to lose our memories." She said grimly.

The four happy travelers had been reunited and now sat in their cages, the dimly lit room flooded with faint red light. Some of Ludo's army vigilantly stood guard (slept) making sure they didn't escape.

"I guess this is it then huh?" Marco said turning to Star.

Tears filled up Star's eyes "I'm so sorry you guys... If I never came you wouldn't be about to lose all your memories! I never should have come to earth!"

"Hey don't say that!" Mr Diaz said turning to Star.

"Yeah these last few months have been the best of my life! Even if we're all pretty much doomed I'm glad I got to know you." Marco said with a gentle smile. Mr and Mrs Diaz nodded, agreeing with Marco.

Once again tears filled up Star's eyes "Oh you guys!"

The preciously small moment was broken when a loud grinding sound filled the air and a wall began to lift up.

Standing on the other side of the wall was none other than Ludo himself.

"Finally!" He said gawking at the wand in his hand.

"LUDO! GIVE THAT BACK." Star yelled reaching her hands out if the cage.

"Ya right like I'm just going to hand it over to you. Besides its no good anyway until we find a way to turn off the crystal without destroying it..."

Marco and Star growled at the small bird man.

"Anyway we must progress with the more important matter of erasing your memory!"

Ludo motioned the for the first cart and Bearicorn and Buff Frog leapt into action pulling the first cart that happened to contain Mr Diaz.

"Hey!" He shouted as they moved over to a large glass container. Printed on the front of the device was Mind Eraser 5000 in blood red.

Ludo leaned over to Mr Diaz "Hey look I have nothing against you personally but you are kinda with Star and the karate boy so..."

"You let me and my family go!"

Ludo rolled his eyes "Please yelling will get you nowhere!"

Mr Diaz was dumped into the machine.

"Start the mind wipe!" Ludo squealed.

A bright green and blue light filled the tube and a ear piercing sound shredded the air.

"AHHHHH!" Mr Diaz screamed as electricity pulsed through the device and into him.

"Nooooo!" The three remaining screamed in unison tears flow most

As soon as it started it ended and the bright lights faded. The chamber door opened releasing a cloud of smoke and steam.

Two monsters came up and pulled out a slightly fried and knocked out Mr Diaz.

They rest of the Diaz's gasped in horror, tears were shed.

Now it was Marcos turn...

The process was repeated and just as before tears flowed, although this time it especially hit Star hard.

Next up was Star who although put up quite the tearful and rage filled fight was eventually throne into the device.

After a short mind erasing she too was pulled out the machine and put back into her cage.

Finally it was Mrs Diaz's turn, face stained with tears she was carted over to the device.

"Any last words before you forget everything?" Ludo taunted.

Mrs Diaz glared at the evil little bird man. But as her cage gate opened Mrs Diaz forced her hands on the glass door to the mind eraser and pushed down on the cart sending it flying out from under her. The cart slammed into the other side of the room hitting some monsters on the way.

Ludo blinked at the scene.

"GRAB HER YOU IDIOTS!" He screeched.

Mrs Diaz surprised that her plan had actually worked leapt up into action ducking and dodging Ludo's minions.

"This is for my family!" Mrs Diaz shouted, knocking a monster off its feet.

"COME ON YOU GOT LIKE 200 POUNDS ON HER!" Ludo screamed.

Mrs Diaz was actually pretty swift for her age but she couldn't keep it up for much longer, so she grabbed the old mattress form her cage and used it as a shield. But even with the mattress as a shield she was being backed into a corner.

"Hahaha we got you now..." Bearicorn taunted.

But just as things were turning for the worse out of the corner of her eye she spotted a laundry chute with piles of garbage oddly sitting beside it. She ran over to her escape and jumped down it using the mattress as a cushion.

"Ludo sir, karate boys mom jumped down the garbage chute!"

"AHHH YOU MORONS!" Ludo barked "Whatever, let her go I have more important things to attend to! Now put the others in their rooms and carry me to my throne!"

"Yes sir..." The monsters moaned.

-Back to the present-

The roof now blown off and tower containing the crystal collapsed Star and Marco got ready to face their greatest challenge yet.

Wind in their hair and adrenaline in their veins the two looked on at the massive towering beast that Ludo had become.

Star turned to Marco "Ready to kick some monster butt?"

Marco smiled and laughed "When am I not?"

The two lunged at the horde of Ludo's minions. This way and that the two attacked, focusing their skills into one and becoming a true force to be reckoned with. Just as before when they fought each other they danced as much as they fought. Each step and twirl in perfect time with the other, no monster stood a chance.

But Ludo was no ordinary monster...

A massive fist came barreling down and slammed down onto the battle field knocking Star and Marco off their feet.

Marco pushed himself up off the ground "Star what do we do? We aren't big enough to take Ludo head on!"

Star got up and brushed the dust of herself. "I don't know!"

Another massive blow landed onto the floor and the building started to shake.

"Wait Star I have an idea!"

"I'm listening!" Star yelled as she narrowly dogged a giant foot crushing her.

"Make him keep hitting the center!" Marco instructed.

"Won't that cause the whole building to collapse!"

"That's the point!"

Star shot Marco a "are you kidding me?" look and went back to dogging Ludo.

"Just trust me!" Marco shouted while side stepping a laser beam from Ludo's staff.

Star sighed; this was not a good idea...

"Hey ugly over here!"

"Ludooo, ohhh, Ludooo!"

The two taunted and yelled at Ludo until he finally had enough.

"TAKE THIS!" Ludo slammed the end of his staff into the center of the building where Star and Marco stood.

A massive cracking sound made everyone stop.

"Uh oh..." Ludo said as his hotel began to collapse.

"Star watch out!" Marco tackled Star away from the center and covered her with his body as floor after floor gave way.

Finally crashing onto the ground may moans and grunts of pain filled the air as the huge cloud of dust settled.

"Ughhhh you ok Star?" Marco said rolling off her onto the ground.

"Ya I'm good." She coughed out.

"MOM, DAD, YOU OKAY?" Marco yelled out.

"Ya we're fine, dumb plan though!"

"Hey it was a great plan!"

Star turned to Marco with a flat expression "No, no it wasn't."

Marco laughed "Oh come on it defeated Ludo..."

And yes in fact it had, for Ludo lay in his normal body on the ground, wand but a few feet from his claws.

"Quick Star grab the wand!" Marco exclaimed.

Star pushed herself out of the dirt and snatched the wand.

"YES! TAKE THAT LUDO, IN YOUR FACE WE WIN!" She screamed at the top her lungs.

"Ugh what the... NOOOOOO! MY TOWER, MY BRILLIANT PLAN!"

Star jumped for joy right into the arms of Marco. "WE DID IT!"

Marco and Star hugged each other and twirled around laughing. "YA WE DID!" Marco echoed her joyous tone.

Marco set Star down and chuckled.

"LOOK MARCO MY WAND WORKS AGAIN!" Star squealed in excitement swinging the magical relic around and casting all sorts of spells.

"Yes Star your wand works again!" Marco said smiling.

"Laugh it up now just you wait I will have that wand again!" Ludo said from the side lines while cutting a portal with his dimensional scissors. "And when I do-"

"Ya ya your going to destroy us blah blah blah!" Star said and pushed him through the rip in space.

All of Ludo's monsters shamefully shuffled into the portal following their defeated master and it closed with a fizzle.

Mr and Mrs Diaz came running over to Star and Marco just as the portal closed and wrapped them both in a massive bear hug.

"We're all back together again!" Mr Diaz exclaimed with joy.

Everyone laughed and enjoyed each other's warm embrace, it had been a long last couple of days...

When they all finally parted and calmed down a bit Mrs Diaz spoke up "So Star I have a question for you..."

Star turns away from Marco letting out a small laugh "Yeah go ahead, shoot."

"So Star, how did you free Marco?"

Star's expression dropped and a blush danced onto her face. After bringing herself back together again she cleared her throat "Well you see..."

* * *

 **Whew! That was a _huge_ amount to write! Ahh well, I hope you all liked the three parter, next chapter we'll be back into their long journey up north. Now onto the special announcement! I will be taking a (small) break from The Diaz Family Roadtrip to write a series of one-shots. They're going to be all about autumn my favorite season! The fist one should be out pretty soon! Thanks for reading, and I will hopefully see you all in the other story and of course the next chapter!**


	14. An Interdimensional Shortcut

**Author's Note**

 **Hello everyone and welcome back to The Diaz Family Roadtrip! Sorry this has taken sooooooo long to update, life am I right? I really want to start updating this story more frequently I just need to finish two more one shots in Autumn and were back on track! Another thing that got in the way was that the original idea for this chapter just wasn't working. It had the "crew" drive for five days straight to catch up on time but there weren't enough ideas to fill the chapter. After all you can only do so much in a car and I've already written a lot about cars and driving so I decided to scratch that idea in favour of this much better one! The title kind of gives the basic story away so I'm not going to bore you with pre-story exposition, just enjoy the fic and I will see you at the bottom! (I still own nothing!)**

* * *

Star rested against the side of the brightly colored (and a little dusty) trailer. She sighed in the new morning light. It was a new day and our heroes were planing how to catch up on time after the whole experience with Ludo.

"How are we going to get to the wedding on time?!" Mrs Diaz fretted.

"I don't know! It's not like we can drive for a straight five days, that's a terrible idea!" Mr Diaz complained.

"Well it's the only one we got!" Mrs Diaz replied.

Star closed her eyes and shifted over to rest her head on Marco's shoulder, taking down you arch nemesis is very tiresome! And besides it not like Marco seemed to mind anyway.

Star became lost in her own thoughts; maybe missing the wedding wasn't so bad... If they went to the wedding that would mean she'd have to dance with Marco and she didn't know how she felt about that, especially after _kissing_ him for goodness sake (more of a peck on the cheek but still).

Lucky for her this train of thought was stopped before it moved onto more serious questions about her relationship to Marco...

"Star do have any ideas?" Marco asked her.

Star lifted her head off of his shoulder "Ideas for what exactly?"

Marco face palmed "Ideas on how to catch up on time?"

"Hmmmmm" Star began to chew on her newly recovered wand once again (something Marco found impossibly adorable).

That's when her brilliant idea came into fruition "I got it!"

"Well what is it!" The rest asked anxiously.

"I can use my dimensional scissors to take a short cut through another dimension!" She shouted triumphantly.

Mr and Mrs Diaz glanced at each other "That just might work Star!" Mr Diaz pronounced.

"Woh woh woh, hold up. How are we going to travel through another dimension? A car needs roads after all!" Marco rebutted.

"It's ok Marco lots of dimensions have roads!"

"Pavement roads?"

"Of course!" She dismissed him and laughed nervously.

Star leaned over to Mr Diaz "What's pavement?" She whispered to him.

Before he could answer Mrs Diaz spoke up.

"Look Marco what other options do we have? I'm pretty sure none of us want to be driving continuously for four days." She said to the boy.

Marco sighed "Alright but when we get lost, eaten or some other random thing I'll be here to say I told you so!"

"Yes!" Star shouted happy to once again travel dimensions.

She pulled out her scissors that she snatched from Ludo's throne room before the hotel collapsed.

The car and trailer pulled out onto the straight highway lining up for the inter-dimensional leap. Star ripped a hole in the fabric of space with the scissors and skipped over to the car.

"Onward to adventure!" She said climbing into the vehicle.

They edged forward towards the swirling vortex.

"Full speed ahead!" Star yelled and stuck her head out the window.

The vehicle lurched forward and picked up speed driving headstrong into the portal.

They burst through onto the other side, brilliant sunlight cascaded down into wispy clouds wrapped around towering pillars of white limestone.

Of course they hadn't landed onto one of the pillars, or well they did but promptly drove off it at 36 miles an hour.

The car trailer combo nosed dived and began to fall hundreds of feet through layer after layer of pearly white clouds.

"AHHHHHHH!" The whole party screamed as they fell.

"STAR DO SOMETHING!" Marco yelled.

"ITS OK I GOT THIS!" She shouted back crawling out the window.

She climbed up to the front of the car and jumped ahead of it. Star in midair while falling, ripped open a portal. The car shot through and was spat out back onto the highway they came from, luckily enough right side up.

Star stood up and brushed herself off from the road dust. "Wrong dimension!" She stated matter-a-factly.

"WRONG DIMENSION? WRONG DIMENSION AY? YEA I COULD TELL!" Marco yelled.

"Marco its fine!" Star said waving him off like nothing happened.

"FINE? WE ALMOST DIED!"

"It's ok we were never in any real danger. In that dimension you can fall for infinity!" Star replied with a smile.

Mr and Mrs Diaz shook themselves back into reality after being paralyzed with fear. "Alright Star you get one more chance..."

Marco fell back into his seat and closed his eyes, Star was going to be the death if him.

"Alright let's try this again!" She said ripping open another portal, hopefully to somewhere safe (yeah, good luck with that).

Star got back into the car and gripped the back seat. "Full speed ahead, again!"

Mr Diaz forced himself push on the gas, beads of sweat on his forehead. Everyone (except star of course) flinched as they drove through the portal.

The vehicle came out of the portal and rolled to a stop on some bumpy ground. The Diaz's open their eyes to a sight they were not expecting.

This time they were greeted by fertile green rolling hills with forests dotting the countryside. A bright blue sky with puffy white clouds arched above them and the sound of a small babbling brook rang quiet and true.

"Wow Star you did well this time!" Mrs Diaz said looking out her window.

"I have to admit, this is pretty nice!" Marco said relived that they weren't about to die.

"See guys I told you I could do it!" Star said proudly.

"Just one thing Star..."

"Yes Marco?"

"Where is the road?"

"Uhhh its right over... there!" She said pointing to a small dirt road beside the field.

"Star that's not made of pavement." Marco replied.

"Yes it is, I think? I'm still not quite sure on what pavement is exactly, soooo."

"Star it's what Earth roads are made of!"

"Ohhhhh! Yea there's no pavement on Mewni."

Mr Diaz spoke up "Never mind that this dirt road will do!" He said driving off the bumpy field and onto the road.

They drove along for quite some time. Under the shade of oak trees and through grassy fields waving in the summer breeze it was not at all like other parts of Mewni.

"Wow Star this is actually really peaceful!" Marco said whilst breathing in the fresh air.

"Yeah this part of Mewni is well known for being a nice place; it's actually quite far from the center of the kingdom so I don't come here often." She replied.

"It's a shame this place is great." Mrs Diaz called from the front seat.

Once again though like so many times before luck decided to turn its back on them when a pack of wild monsters came racing out of the tranquil forest.

"MONSTERS!" Marco exclaimed his peaceful smile turning into a startled expression.

"GO GO GO GO!" Star rambled ad they approached a break neck speed.

Mr Diaz put the pedal to the metal and floored it the trailer and car bumping up and down on the poorly made dirt road. Star leaned out the window wand held high.

"RAPID FIRE FLAMINGO BLAST!"

Pink flamingos launched forth and took down a couple of the monsters. But even with her heroic efforts there were too many of monsters with more joining each minute.

"Star I think it's time for a speedy escape!" Mrs Diaz shouted from up front.

"On it!" Star called back.

Like before she climbed onto the hood of the car and jumped off making a tear in space. They drove through and star fell back onto the hood of the car.

They appeared in a large sea port town traveling at nearly 90 miles an hour. Mr Diaz slammed on the brakes as the skidded forward, random civilians jumping and running out of the way. The car kept going until in finally came to a stop right before the end of a dock.

Stat whipped the sweat off her brow. "Whew! That was a close one!" She said rolling off the hood and onto the ground.

Marco got out of the car and leaned off the dock. "BLUUUUUH." He up chucked right off the dock and into the already grimy sea.

"Sorry about the bumpy ride Marco, nothing I could do!" Mr Diaz said from the car.

But even now they were still in hot water as three burly men approached the car.

"Pirates." Star mutter in despise.

She grabbed Marco and they swung under the old wooden dock, clinging to the support beams.

"Star wha-"

"Shhhh!" Star covered Marcos mouth.

Something was happening up above.

"Hey you two!" One of the pirates said.

"Us?" Mrs Diaz replied.

"Ya you! You're coming with us!" The pirates grabbed Mr and Mrs Diaz and hurled them into a pirate ship to become their personal servants and/or slaves.

"Alright just a couple more and then were done." Another pirate said.

"What about that... uhhh... thing?" One asked the others motioning to the car and trailer.

"Ahhh we'll push it into the sea later but right now we need to round up some more free labour!" The pirate from earlier replied.

They all laughed hardily and walked off down the dock.

"What are going to do we have to get them back!" Marco whispered to Star.

"I have an idea..." Star said with a devious smile.

The two crept off to execute another of Stars hair brained schemes...

Marco knocked on the tavern door.

"Star this is stupid they won't buy it!"

"Shush Marco it will work just you wait and see!"

A scraggly old man pushed open the door "Hello who goes there?" He said in a raspy voice

Marco leaned over to Star and whispered into her ear from the side of his mouth "What do I say?"

Star whispered back "I don't know something pirate-y?"

"Ummm hey sir we arrrr here to uhh... taste some of yourrrr best ummm... ale?" He said in a horrendously fake pirate accent.

Star face palmed and pulled him aside leaving the man in the door scratching his head.

"Are you kidding me Marco? _That_ was your best pirate accent?"She said laughing.

"Hey it's harder than it looks! Besides why would I need to know how to talk like a pirate except for this very specific situation?" He retorted.

Star rolled her eyes trying to contain her giggles "Ok then let me do that talking!"

She grabbed Marco and they knocked on the door again.

"Hello who, oh it's you again what do you want?"

"Hey were here to take some guys key!" Star replied without any pirate accent at all.

"Wait wha-"

Before the man could finish Star blasted him with a magic beam and he flew across the room hitting a wall.

Marco gave Star a "are you kidding me?" look.

"Why didn't you do that the first time?!" He complained.

Star giggled "I wanted to hear you try a pirate accent!"

Marco huffed to which Star smiled. She grabbed his hand and pulled him inside, Star cracked her knuckles. "Alright which one of you landlubbers owns the boat out there with red flag?"

One tavern brawl later...

Star twirled the key around her finger "See Marco I told you it would work!"

"Fine I have to hand it you that was pretty great." Marco said with a chuckle.

Star stopped walking at turned to him "And you do make a fine pirate after all Diaz! Just work on the accent."

They both laughed. All of the sudden a voice called from up ahead.

"Nice pirate costumes now are we going to get going?"

Star and Marco stopped laughing and stared at each other in disbelief. Mr and Mrs Diaz had escaped by themselves and were now sitting in the car, Mrs Diaz reading a local newspaper and Mr Diaz looking at them through the rear view mirror.

"Uhhhh we were coming to save you..." Marco began not sure what to make of his parents beating up three pirate guards and breaking down at least two solid wooden doors.

Star laughed "Your parents are awesome Marco!"

"Right..."

Mr Diaz chuckled "Come on you two!"

Star opened a portal and got in the car. They drove off the dock and through the vortex back to earth... exactly where they started.

"STAR!" Marco yelled looking at his surroundings.

She giggled nervously "Heh heh sorry."

She opened another portal and they drove though ending up still on earth just five days of driving away from where they started.

"There we go!" She exclaimed with pride at her achievement.

"Star... "

"Yea Marco?" She said nonchalant.

"Why didn't you do that in the first place?" Marco said, eye twitching.

"Oh I didn't know they could do that just decided to try, it worked I guess!"

Marco's rage took over and he lunged at Star in attempt to tackle her.

"Hey!" Star said evading his attack.

Star got out of the car and started to run around the vehicle, Marco in hot pursuit.

"Get over here!"

"Marco I will narwhal blast you!"

"You can try!"

Mr and Mrs Diaz rolled their eyes, kids these days. Marco over time runs out of breath and tumbles down on the ground, lying still as the sun falls. Star walks over and lays down beside him.

"Got it all out?" She asks with a small grin.

Marco chuckles "Ya I'm good."

They close their eyes and feel the air as it gets cool each passing minute. It had been a long day and all that they wanted now was some hard earned sleep.

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 **Hey guys that's all for now! I hope you liked it and now I will begin to update this fic more, just need to finish a quick two chapters in Autumn. Also thank you FabioFerrario for the criticism (and lovely review of course). Like I've said before I'm always ready to grow and improve, so thank you (It wasn't rude at all by the way!). And thank you everyone for reading and reviewing ect, it means a lot. Hope you enjoyed and see you in the next chapter!**


	15. Star the Jewel Thief

**Hey guys sorry again about the super long wait, so many things keep getting in the way and I never have time to write! So yeah sorry about that one, anyway Autumn is finally over (The story mind you not the actual season)! It was super fun to write and I'm really really happy that you all liked it! And on the theme of things ending, it seems this story to is coming to a close. Don't fret we've still got a couple of chapters to go, but we are getting very close to the end. I'm not sure what I will do after this, maybe another story, a series of one shot's, a sequel? I don't really know. Now not one to dwell in things depressing onto this chapter! This chapter they finally arrive at the destination but get lost in a city nearby. The city is based off Billings Montana but I represent it as a little bigger (I don't have to be exact to real life!). I hope you guys enjoy and see you at the bottom!**

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"We're so close I can _feel_ it!" Marco said as the Diaz's glided across the freeway into Bearing City.

Today was the final leg of the family's long journey north, soon they would be arriving at Mr Diaz's little brothers house and get ready for the wedding. At long last they didn't have to sit for hours crammed into a small car and travel across miles of empty desert. Now they could relax in a warm home and watch tv all day.

Star could barely contain her excitement "We're almost there!" she squealed with glee.

Mr Diaz brought the excitement down to earth, "We're not there yet. We still got a bit to go, not to mention that my brother moved so I don't have anything to go on but his street address!"

"I'm sure we will find it just fine!" Mrs Diaz reassured.

When they pulled off the exit ramp and into the city all was not fine though. The city had grown quite a bit since Mr Diaz was last there. Sure it was no New York or anything but it was a lot bigger now then he remembered. This was bad because he happened to be the only one who sort of knew his way around the place.

"Ok... Yea don't remember that, or that." Mr Diaz said nervously as they passed building after building.

"It's alright I'm sure we'll find our way soon enough!" Mrs Diaz said, ever the optimist.

But optimism alone does not suffice when trying to find you're bearing in an urban maze of clogged streets and blinking lights. Even with Star's absolutely amazing advice to just drive straight though the buildings they were still lost as ever.

Marco moaned "I thought we already went down this street before!"

"No no that's the other one you thinking about! This one is new... I think." Star (kinda) corrected.

"Alright you know what?" Mr Diaz exclaimed, "I'm pulling over and we're going to sort this out!"

Mr Diaz pulled it a small empty parking lot, it's old grey pavement cracking, letting weeds weasel their way to surface.

"Ok everyone out!" He proclaimed.

Everyone got out of the car, confused onto what exactly his plan of action was.

"Ok were splitting up!" He stated to the group.

"What?" The rest responded in unison.

"I mean we're splitting up to find directions!" He repeated.

"Why are we doing that?" Marco asked.

"Well you see, each one of you has just as much an idea where were going as I do, so if we all split up to find directions it would increase our odds!"

Mrs Diaz pursed her lips "Hmmm, maybe we shouldn't just split up I think it'd be better to go in pairs."

"Ok then, Marco you and Star will go that way...' Mr Diaz said pointing down a road to the left, "And your mother and I will go this way." He finished pointing to the right.

"Sounds like a plan!" Star said happy to explore the new city with Marco.

"We will meet back here around six ok?" Mrs Diaz told the group.

Everyone nodded in response and then said their final goodbyes before heading off in their separate directions. Star and Marco waved to Mr and Mrs Diaz, as they vanished into the shifting crowed.

The two teens started off down the city sidewalk, and by they I mean Marco, as Star was constantly being distracted by the many shiny things on display in the glittering windows of stores.

"Come on Star let's go!" Marco griped.

This was fifth time stopping in four minutes walking.

"Awww but Marco would you look at that scooter, _I NEED IT_!"

"Star you do not need a scooter, now let's go."

Star drew a long breath as she was swiftly pulled away from the window of many amusing objects.

But Marco's determination to find directions was of course no match for Stars short attention span and thus they had once again stopped at a store window only thirty seconds after walking again.

"My goodness Star let's just _go_!"

"But Marco you don't understand look at all the things, _THE THINGS MARCO_!" She said gravitating towards the door.

"Were not going inside Star!"

"Pleeeeeease?" Star's eyes desperately pleaded to go into the store and Marco being the softy he was didn't stand a chance.

"...Fine! But not for too long!"

This was Marco's grave mistake. The store in fact happened to not be just a store, but a collection of stores. Marco had just let Star loose in a mall.

The hours were sucked away as he was helplessly dragged from shop to shop. First a shoe store, then a toy store, then a book store, heck Star didn't even like to read! Why on earth was he stuck in a book store!?

And it wasn't like he could just sit outside when she went into some random woman's clothing store either; he literally _had_ to be there with her. She was from a completely different dimension after all.

"Star do you need to try everything on? We have like only twenty bucks it's not like we can actually buy anything." He called to her while looking at a selection of girly bracelets and charms.

"Well where's the fun in that? You gotta try it on!" She called back from in the change room, hanging a pearl pink dress on the door.

"Yea yea..."

Marco sighed and sat down on a small bench and waited, so so much waiting. Just then though his quiet misery was interrupted by a sound. It was an odd sound, very soft and it sounded vocal.

He turned to take a look and saw a couple of female store clerks behind a counter cooing at him. Marco instinctively blushed and tried to ignore them, pushing them to the back of his mind.

"Are you done yet Star, like come on!"

"Just wait, sheesh you're impatient."

There it was again the sound... then it hit him, they weren't cooing at him, they were cooing at _them_! Him and Star together as a couple! Marco blushed even more now, red as a tomato. Obviously the store clerks had gotten the wrong idea.

Star stepped out of the change room and chuckled at his beet red face"Marco are you ok?"

Marco forcefully willed the blush away, "Oh these store clerks... actually never mind I'm fine, it's, it's nothing."

Star grinned and raised an eyebrow "Alright then... Now let's go I'm bored!"

"Finally you take _forever_!"

Star giggled "I do not!"

"Mmmm hmmm whatever you say Star."

She folded the cloths she tried on and placed them back in their correct places and joyfully skipped out of the store, "Come on slow poke!"

"Yeah I'm the slow one." He scoffed and walked out of the store but not before some clerk could give him a wave, making him blush a bit again. When they got out of the perfume scented store and into the air-conditioned mall Star let out the bad news (for Marco at least).

"Alright just one more store and I'm done!" She chimed.

"Another? Star we've been here for hours and we need to be back at the car soon!"

"Come on it'll be quick!"

Marco rolled his eyes and followed, "You? Quick? Yea right."

Star glanced over at Marco and shot him a playful glare "I am so quick!"

Marco laughed "Oh really?"

"Yes I am!" Star retorted and cracked her fingers "I'll prove it." She said with a confident smile.

Marco's sly grin dropped "No wait Star not like th-!"

But it was too late, Star whizzed away down the mall corridor brushing past startled people while Marco jogged behind and apologized to everyone she pushed out of her way.

Marco tumbled out of the crowd lost for breath, "Why Star... WHY?" he said panting.

Star laughed flicked her hair "I told you I was quick!"

"I didn't mean it like that Star!"

Marco was expecting her to realize the mistake and probably apologize but what he got instead was...

"I know." She said laughing as she walked to the next store, "Now come on here's the last store I want to check out!"

Marco groaned at her shenanigans and trotted along beside her. As they walked it was soon apparent where Star was planning to go.

"Star why are we going to a jewelry store, don't you Mewnian royals have enough gems?"

"Yeah, enough Mewni gems! I want to look at some earth jewelry!"

There was a problem though as the store was, much to Star's disappointment, closed.

Marco smiled at his luck "Welp that's too bad I guess we'll just have to be going then won't we!" he exclaimed with a smile and began to walk away from the closed store.

Star however was not following; she stood in front of the locked door and chewed on her wand. Marco turned around to see her scheming away a devious plan.

"Star... don't get any ideas..." Marco said a tinge worried.

"I have an idea!" Star pronounced in spite of Marco's warning.

And Marco knew exactly the idea she had brewed in her crazy mind.

"No! Star we are not going to break into a jewelry store!" He said probably a little too loud as it had caused a few passersby to glance over with a questioning glare.

"Awww come on Marco why not?"

"Because I don't want to go to jail Star!"

The princess paused for a brief second before responding.

"Fine then we can go." She said calmly, albeit a bit too calmly.

Marco raised a very suspicious eyebrow, Star never gave up that easy.

"Ok..." he agreed with a cautionary tone.

The two began to walk away from the store, Marco eyeing Star's eerily calm demeanor.

"Wait I have another idea!" She pronounced once more.

Marco smiled, this was the star he knew "Does it involve breaking in to the store?" he asked warily.

"No actually it doesn't!"

Marco's eyes narrowed, "Well what is it then?"

Star smiled, "If you're so worried about time I can just teleport us to the car using my dimensional scissors!"

Marco frowned; it _was_ a really helpful idea, but that's what worried him...

"Hmmmm, I don't know what you're playing at Butterfly but I guess we can try it..."

Star beamed and then pulled out her dimensional scissors. With one swift tear in space she created a portal. Star hoped right through and Marco followed suit and he stepped out of the portal and into...

"THE JEWELRY STORE ?!" he blurted.

Star quickly closed the portal to make sure they couldn't go back right away.

"Come on just for a bit...?" She pleaded.

"No Star we can't be in here! We have to get out before an alarm goes off or something!" Marco whispered frantically.

"Come on nothing's going to happen! I'll just look around for a bit and then... what was that?"

A soft sawing noise echoed from above quietly filling the silence with its eeriness.

After a while Marco's mind began to race, were they stuck in the middle of a heist? Was an earthquake happening? Was the roof being eaten by a swarm a nasty termites that would eat them to?

As it turned his first guess was right when a small circular patch of roof fell down and with it two robbers dressed in black and wearing equally black ski masks.

"AHHHHHH!" Star and Marco screamed at the sight of two masked men.

The robbers looked at each other and screamed themselves "AHHHHHHHH!"

Then due to the racket everyone was making the alarm went off causing all four to scream even louder, thus increasing the chaos by one hundred percent.

"What do we do, what do we do?!" Star said frantically.

"It's ok I know how we all can get out of here and not get put in the slammer." One of the robbers said in a deep and raspy voice.

"And why should we trust you?" Marco replied with a bit of sass.

"There's no time for this I will just use my scissors!" Star feverishly exclaimed and opened a portal.

Star and Marco jumped through the swirling vortex and were followed by the robbers. When they exited the portal on the other side of the tightly locked store door the police were already on the scene waiting for them.

"What was that?" One of them asked astonished at the sight.

"Who cares just get them!" The commander shouted and pointed at the robbers.

Marco turned to Star "Time to show me how quick you really are, _RUN_!"

They bolted away and a couple of officers followed in hot pursuit. Star pulled out her wand and as she ran began to fire spells back at the police, which even to her credit was just making things worse.

"ICEICLE SHARD BLAST ULTRA!" She screamed sending a ray of icy death at the pursuing police.

"Star that's not helping!" He shouted to her.

"Hey at least it's something!" She shouted back.

The two burst out of the malls polished glass doors and onto the sidewalk.

Star turned to Marco "Which way do we go!?"

"I don't know! Ummm there!" he said pointing to a small yellow taxi.

They jumped inside its cigarette scented cabin and Marco threw the twenty bucks he had at the driver, "Get us away from here as fast as you can!"

Except that there was no driver and Marco had just thrown his twenty bucks on an empty driver's seat.

"Why aren't we moving?" Marco said irritated and glancing around in fear.

"Marco there's no driver!" Star replied with a slight giggle in spite of the situation.

Marco huffed and then crawled into the front seat, "I guess I'm the driver now..."

Marco turned the key that had been left in the ignition and floored it. But as noble and valiant his intent, Marco could not drive. They swerved and skidded down the street narrowly missing cars, trees and poles alike.

"Marco do you even know how to drive!?" Star said from the back, clinging to the seat for dear life.

"Not really...' Marco replied as he barely avoided a hot dog stand.

Marco and Star's joyride soon came to end though when Marco turned the car into a grey lamppost and stalled, leaving them stranded. The police officers didn't have much of a challenge finding them. They just followed the tire skid marks over to the now inept vehicle, steam pouring out of the hood.

"Would you two just wait for goodness sake? We're not going to arrest you kids, we just wanted to ask you some questions!" One officer said in annoyance.

Mr and Mrs Diaz came rushing over, having seen the scene from afar "Are you two ok!" Mrs Diaz exclaimed.

Marco pushed open the car door and stumbled out into the daylight "Ya were alright..." he said a little queasy.

Star stumbled out of the backseat, a little less green then Marco. "Ugh..."

"What happened to you two and why were you running from the police!?" Mr Diaz said gesturing to the officers.

"Well you see..." Star began.

Marco cut in front of Star "It's a long story, I'll tell you later."

Mr Diaz sighed and rubbed his temples, it had been a long day "Officer do I own you anything, a fine or something?"

"No no, just keep your eye on these two; it seems they accidentally got involved in a jewelry heist. We knew it was going to happen, we were just surprised when these two kids showed up out of nowhere!"

"Oh thank goodness." Mrs Diaz said in relief who had feared the worst.

"Yea Star really wanted to see some earth jewelry or something..." Marco said nervously.

"Anyway have a nice day, and keep a close eye on those trouble makers of yours!" The officers said walking away.

Once the officers had left Mr Diaz spoke up, "Look you two, I would be pretty angry with right now if it weren't for the fact that me and Angie found a way to Donato's place!"

Marco wiped the sweat from his brow and leaned over to Star "Looks like we dodged a bullet on this one!" he whispered to her.

Everyone piled into the car after what had become a very long day. They drove out of the city and to Mr Diaz's little brother's country home. When they arrived dusk was falling and the air was becoming chilled by the onset of night. Yawning and tiered eyed they rolled into the driveway. The hum of the engine came to a stop plunging the car into exhausted silence. Outside at the front door a single light came on and the door creaked open...

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 **Sorry about the cliff hanger, I couldn't help myself! The next chapter is going to be all about Star meeting Marco's extended family! Thanks for reading guys and see you in the next one.**


	16. Just a Joust

**Happy holidays everyone! I hope you all had an AWESOME Christmas! I really took my time making this chapter, even with said time to write in small amounts. I want these last couple of chapters to be just right, especially the wedding one coming up. I also took some extra time to work on a wintery one shot that should be up pretty soon so you can look forward to that! It's not going to be Christmas related due to the absolute _FLOOD_ of Christmas fics, I think we got enough of those. In this chapter we get meet Marco's extended family and his new rival (oOoOo!). They go exploring and have to joust over Star yadda yadda yadda you get the idea, see you at the bottom! (I still don't own anything)**

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Marco rolled over groggily, the sweet smell of grass gently flowing through the open window. All was perfect... except it wasn't, something was off. He couldn't put his finger on it but it felt like he was missing something...

Star was in the exact same predicament, albeit a little more oblivious to what she was missing. It was still there though, sitting restlessly in the back of her mind.

After what seemed like an eternity of drifting in and out of sleep Marco yawned and forced his eyes open to meet another pair of bubbly blue ones across the room. They weren't in the trailer anymore, now they each had their own comfortable beds. The room was dim, a few stray beams of sunlight made their way through the swaying soft white curtains in the window and illuminated dancing dust particles.

Once the two realized the situation they knew what they had been missing.

Marco never thought he'd say it but he kinda missed sleeping beside Star, waking up to her joyful attitude and amusing antics. Star missed Marco's playful irritation, and it was adorable when he got all flustered!

"Morning Marco." Star said with a goofy smile.

"Morning Star." Marco replied, smiling back.

In the soft light and each other's presence the two nearly slipped back to sleep but it was for not as an abrupt knock on the door forced them get up, "Come down stairs kids, we're having pancakes!" Mrs Diaz called through the door.

Marco groaned and pushed himself out of bed, a little woozy from standing up a bit too fast. Star buried her head in her pillow refusing to get up.

"Come on Sta... ah whatever." Marco at the moment could care less about getting Star out of bed, he barely got up himself!

Enticed by the smell of pancakes wafting from below he shoved the wooden door open and fumbled his way down the stairs into the kitchen where his family awaited patiently for the him (as in they were already eating).

There were all there, his aunt Maria and her husband Reggie, their two sons and daughter Ricardo, Daniel and Sofia, Grandma and Grandma Diaz and of course the man of the hour Donato who was staying at Maria and Reggie's place until the wedding.

"Morning Marco!" Everyone said in unison.

Marco gave a sloppily executed half smile in return and walked over to reunite with his extended family.

After the usual smiles, hugs and hellos he went to sit down before one of his infamously renowned cousins stopped him, "So Marco who's the lucky lady I've heard is tagging along with you?" Ricardo asked.

Ricardo was a well built farm boy who had a resemblance to Marco. He was muscular and stood just a bit taller than Marco. But don't be fooled by his farm life upbringing, he was suave, very suave, so suave in fact that he was well known around the area to be a heart breaker.

Marco rolled his eyes, here we go. "Oh Star? She's our new foreign exchange student, we're basically best friends." He boasted proudly, it was nice to say he was her best friend.

Ricardo grinned slyly "Oh so she's not taken then..."

Marco frowned "Hey, you keep your hands off her; I don't want to see you trying anything sneaky." He warned.

"Whatever you say man, but you better keep your eye on her during the dance or ima swoop in like an eagle and take her away!"

Marco glared back at him in response, "Speak of the devil look who's here!" Ricardo exclaimed, ignoring Marco's scornful glare and gestured to Star at the top of the stairs.

She muttered something to herself and then went to take a step, missed, and then stumbled her way down barely standing, into the kitchen. The whole Diaz family watched with curious eyes.

"Hey...?" Star waved shyly as she straightened up.

There she stood in all her glory, blonde hair a complete mess, bags under her eyes and a little bit of drool on the corner of her mouth. She wasn't exactly the picture of beauty at the moment but that didn't stop Ricardo from taking interest, much to Marco's uneasy displeasure.

"Everyone this is Star, the girl I was telling you all about!" Mr Diaz exclaimed.

"Morning Star!" Everyone greeted on unison mirroring the greeting given to Marco.

"Morning!" She echoed back with a bright smile.

She skipped over and sat down close beside Marco, causing a bit of a stir in the group. Marco raised an eyebrow at the family's whispering.

"What are you..." He stopped for a second before turning multiple shades of red.

"Of course!" He cursed to himself, "They think were a couple!"

"What is it Marco?" Star asked innocently at his mumbling and red face.

"Oh nothing I-It's nothing." He blurted.

Star smirked, "Ok..." Man Marco sucks at lying.

Marco who was desperate to cease the family's errant whispers decided to change the subject, "So uhhh guys I don't think we told you but Star is in fact a magical princess!"

It worked, the whispers stopped but it failed to remove attention off of Marco and Star like he had planned.

"What?" Daniel asked in disbelief.

Star's eyes lit up and she eagerly jumped into the conversation, "Yup I am! Me and Marco go on magical adventures all the time! You want to see!?"

Multiple people around the table snickered causing Marco to go red again.

"Sure why not...? Daniel said sarcastically.

"Ok!" Star continued, Daniel's sarcasm completely going over her head.

Star jumped up and stood on her chair and pulled out the magic wand, "GLOWWORM GLITTER SURPRISE!"

A blue glittery blast burst out of the wand along a bunch of adorable little glowing worms.

Everyone stared in wide eyed shock, except Marco, Mr Diaz and Mrs Diaz who all had smirks plastered on their faces.

"See I told you!" Star exclaimed proudly.

Marco sighed and slumped back into his seat and waited as the questions came flying in, this was going to take a while...

An hour and a half later...

Star and Marco sat peacefully munching away at their pancakes in the sunlit kitchen. Marco had put stop to the incessant rain of questions the family was asking in rapid fire, more could be explained later but for now he and Star needed to eat.

That was when Ricardo unexpectedly slid up behind them, "Hey so Star..."

Star whirled around in her seat and faced Ricardo, cheeks stuff with delicious pancakes, "Ya?" She said eagerly after swallowing.

The first things Star noticed about the boy was his resemblance to a certain best friend, she thought he looked kinda like a discount Marco.

"I'm Ricardo and I was wondering if you'd be interested in a tour of the farm?" Ricardo asked, his intentions sounded good but Marco who was listening knew better.

Ricardo's composer was broken when instead of responding to him directly Star turned to Marco...

"Please Marco can we go? It'll be so fun!" Star pleaded to Marco, who looked up at Ricardo with a smirk.

"Why are you asking him for permission?" Ricardo asked a bit flustered.

"Oh well me and Marco do everything together so I don't know if he will want to go or not..." Star explained nonchalant.

Ricardo raised an eyebrow, "So Marco how about it?" He hissed.

Marco sighed and looked to Star, he really didn't want Star within a hundred and fifty feet of Ricardo but it was her choice so, "Fine, we can go."

"YES!" Star shouted with joy before going back to enjoying her morning treat.

"Alright!" Ricardo exclaimed and began to walk away before stopping, "After your finished go get dressed and then meet back down here."

Star and Marco nodded and then went back to eating. After finishing breakfast the two teens went up stairs to get changed. Star pushed open their room's door, "I'll go first!" She stated.

"Woah hold up, you take _forever_ to get changed, I'll go first and then when you're done we can just leave." Marco intervened.

"I wouldn't say I take _forever_." She replied with a smirk.

Marco rolled his eyes, "Remember yesterday at the mall?"

Star giggled "Fine go." She said, shoving him into the bedroom and shutting the door.

The three regrouped by the door, plan for the day fully realized. Star bounced her way outside into the crisp morning air, pale yellow sunlight filtering down to earth.

As Ricardo went to follow Marco stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, "If I see you try and pull any tricks..."

Ricardo scoffed and brushed off Marcos hand, "Me? Pull tricks? I would never!" He said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Sleaze ball." Marco muttered as Ricardo stepped out, grinning at Star.

They began the tour of the farm, winding their way down trails through the tall grass and looking out over the rolling hills, first stop: the tree house...

Two hours later...

Marco eyes traced straight ahead along the track carved into the rippling summer grass. He wasn't sure what horrible chain of mistakes had led him to this terrible crescendo, but he was pretty sure it was Ricardo's fault.

Right now Marco was about to joust, on a tractor. Ricardo had been babbling on about a challenge and the winner taking the hand of the fair princess to the dance or something, and Star got all, well, starry eyed at the idea and the next thing he knew he was about to tractor joust.

In all honesty Marco was pretty sure the only reason he was there was because Star wanted him there.

He looked down from the magically souped up tractor to Star who watching with feverish glee, "Do I really have to do this it seems a bit dangerous..." Marco said with anxiety. Even with the full body armour he was wearing he didn't feel safe.

"Of course you do!" Star replied carelessly "You have to battle _FOR YOUR HONOR_! Besides it's just a joust, what could go wrong?"

"Not helping!" Marco yelled and Star giggled.

"Just relax it'll be fine!" She retorted with a wave of the hand.

Marco gulped, why; why on earth did he end up doing this? And why when he was with Star did they end up in high speed situations?

He didn't have any time to answer those questions plaguing his mind as Star began the dreadful countdown.

"Three!" Star shouted, her blonde hair whipping in the warm mid day breeze.

"Two!" Marco's grip on the steering wheel tightened and he pulled his soft tipped jousting stick close.

"One!" Beads of sweat glide across his face; this was for Star... kinda.

"Go!" Star screeched at the top of her lungs and shot a firework high into the sky with her wand.

The explosion echoed above and Marco put his foot heavy on the gas pedal.

The tractor surged forward at break neck speed knocking Marco back a bit, the knobby tires tearing at the soft earth.

Marco's opponent came in to view and was approaching fast. He could barely hold onto the jousting stick as the tractor shook him out of his skin.

Marco desperately tightened his grip; soon Ricardo himself was visible, confidently speeding forward with impeccable posture.

"Here we go..." Marco groaned and pressed his eyes shut.

 _ **-K-THWACK-**_

Ricardo's stick slammed into Marco's chest plate and blew him backward nearly knocking him off the tractor. At the same time Marco had dropped his stick and it became logged between Ricardo's tractor and his sending them both spinning in different directions.

Marco clung on as he spun out of control, "AHHHHHHH!"

Star watched the scene intently from afar.

Ricardo was also spinning but quickly regained control his tractor. Soon he was back on top and heading in for seconds, "En garde peasant!" Ricardo taunted.

"Are you nuts!?" Marco shouted as he clambered back onto the tractor and attempted to regain control, "I think you're taking this whole knight thing a little too seriously!"

Ricardo scoffed "I think your taking this too lightly!" He shouted back.

"Do you think Star's going to like you just because you're pretending to be a knight?!" Marco yelled.

"No I don't think so, I know so..." Ricardo said menacingly.

The two collided again this time Marco who was without a jousting stick was sent flying backwards high into the air and landed face first in a small pool of mud.

Ricardo jumped off his tractor, letting it slid to a halt, "Looks like I win!" He said with arrogance as he waded towards Marco through the grass.

Marco rolled over in the small mud puddle and grunted in response, of all the possible places to land...

"And look who's now running over to congratulate me!" Ricardo continued turning to watch Star.

"Star I see you've co-... wait what?" Ricardo was shut up as Star flew by him to Marco.

"MARCO!" She shouted

"Star what are y- umfff!" Marco said but was cut off by Star jumping onto him.

" THAT WAS AWESOME!" She yelled into his face, "You were like spinning and spinning and then you were like flying and it was so cool and... are you ok?" Star asked the poor boy.

"Yeah... I'm good... Continue." Marco strained to push out the words.

"Anyway and then you like fell into the mud and I laughed because it was pretty funny and it was just so coooool!" She said, pausing to stare down at him with a bright smile.

Marco smiled, "You know what else is funny... this!" He said and pushed here off and into the mud puddle.

Marco stood up proud at his accomplishment. Ricardo stared in shock and turned to Marco, "You can't just do th-"

Star jumped up out of the mud puddle and tackled Marco into the grass, "Take this!" She cried and shoved a mud pie into his face.

Marco pushed her off into the grass and wiped the mud out of his face, "Ok that was fair." He said chuckling.

Star giggled "Yeah, you deserved it." She said brushing the mud off her clothes.

Ricardo watched awkwardly from across the muddy pit, he didn't get it. He was winning on all fronts! He won the joust, was cooler, better looking and richer! But yet Star clearly favoured Marco, what did Marco have that he didn't? And what was up with this girl Star!? She had barely even batted an eyelid at him unless to ask a few farm related questions on the walk.

"Ahem..." Ricardo grunted, "We should get going..." He said between his gritted teeth.

"Alright." Marco replied he got up and helped Star to her feet, the three then set off home.

"What's his deal?" Star whispered to Marcos ear and gestured to the fuming Ricardo marching in front of them.

"I have no idea." Marco replied with a sly grin.

...

The bright full moon was out, its glow drowning out most of the stars. Ricardo had at least by now calmed down and was back to his normal self. Of course the rest of the family still insisted that Star and Marco were a couple despite both of their denials.

The mess they had made jousting earlier was now all cleaned up, thanks to magic no less. Now they all sat around the backyard fire bit and roasted wieners for dinner.

Star leaned back in her lawn chair and watched the flames of the flickering fire and listed to the chatter of the Diaz's. Her eyes came to a close in the cool summer evening and just like that she fell asleep.

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 **And that's that! Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favouriting, ect, It makes writing each new chapter so worthwhile. Also don't forget to check out my upcoming winter one shot, it should be up very soon! (To anyone who asks it is a Star vs the Forces of evil fic.) Anyway hope you enjoyed and see you in the next one!**


	17. A Star Missing from the Spangled Banner

**Hello fanfiction! I'm back with another update for the Diaz family Roadtrip! Thanks for all the awesome support you guys; I know updates of been pretty few and far between lately, but thanks for sticking around anyway! Also just to let you guys and girls know after this there are only going to be two more chapters.**

 **The readers gasp in horror at what has just transpired, "egad!" One calls from the anxious crowd.**

 **All jokes aside, I know that a lot of you won't be pleased with the news but in fact the story has to come to an end. I'm bringing this up to give you all a chance to tell me some ideas of what you might want me to do next, a whole new series, a one shot collection, a sequel maybe...? Who knows, but if you guys have any ideas that you want to share with me, please by all means tell me and I'll take it into consideration!**

 **In this chapter I wanted to have a little more goofy fun before _The Dance._ As of late I've been watching a lot of western themed movies so ya, you can guess what the theme of this one might be. Ricardo even gets (gives himself) a second shot with Star, the sneaky bugger. Anyway please enjoy and I will see you at the bottom of the page! (Lots of nothing I do own!) **

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Star hummed to herself as Marco and she walked. They were in a local strip mall, it was relatively bland with a main square area in the center and four branches protruding out lined with various shops. The whole family was present shopping for last minute wedding stuff as it was coming up in a couple days.

As they drifted around the mall's stale corridors Star became trapped within her own thoughts, about the approaching dance of course. Forget the wedding; Star was more concerned about the after party than the service! Each and every day since they arrived tension between the two teens had been mounting, piling up inside. It was so bad at this point that she had started to blush whenever they even bumped against each other by accident!

Star didn't know what was going on anymore, she still liked to hang out and watch tv with Marco as always but now there was a lot more nervous laughter. It was super awkward and she was getting pretty frustrated with herself. Why was she feeling this way?!

Star sighed; everything was so much less complicated before when it felt like they were miles away from any type of dancing. Just the two (four) of them, cruising the open road sun in their eyes, wasting the hours away and not a care in the world.

Then all of the sudden, out of the blue she caught something amazing glittering in the corner of her eye, "Hey Marco look over there what's that? Let's check it out!" She said a little bit too fast.

Yesterday when the two were sitting inside and binge watching random tv all day long (as per the norm) a cowboy themed moving flipped onto the screen and Star was immediately enamoured by the sight. It was nothing new to her, well, it was pretty new, she had seen glimpse of this cowboy stuff but not a whole _movie_. And now low and behold a cowboy themed store stood right before her eyes and she needed to check it out, if not to just remover herself from her thoughts.

Marco smiled shyly "Ya alright." He too was in need of a distraction...

Marco wasn't shielded from the tension between him and his best friend. He was just as plagued by worries as Star was, if not more due to his naturally awkward manners.

And to no one's surprise all this building awkwardness hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the family, who lately had been stoking the flames by playfully teasing Marco about Star...

The two teens entered the tiny store and began looked around at all the various leather accessories and old western themed bb guns. They wandered around the shop for a bit, trying to avoid each other's eye contact and evading any form of physical contact between them. Marco while browsing a selection of tough looking leather belts was suddenly and briskly tugged from behind.

"Come on Marco lets go, we're already late for the wedding rehearsal!" Daniel exclaimed in a flurry jumbled words.

They rushed off to the van, Marco barely having any time to process what was going on. They jumped inside the van and roared out of the parking lot not even checking if the whole of the group was even in the vehicle.

Marco caught up in the rush had forgotten about poor Star and now she was left stranded in the boring mall all by her lonesome... well, almost. Marco in hindsight admitted that he would of had preferred her left in her lonesome rather than with who they had also "forgotten".

Ricardo was no fool and when he noticed that Star was forgotten he decided he'd be the *cough* better man and stay behind to keep her company. What a gentleman...

Star skipped out of the washroom and into the mall and was immediately greeted by the ever noble Ricardo.

"Star, there you are!" He exclaimed, short for breath.

"Hey Ricardo... why are you so flustered?" Star asked.

"They left us behind!" The conniving boy blurted.

"What do you mean they left us behind? Who are they?"

"The rest of the family, Marco, they forgot about us!"

"No way Marco wouldn't have forgotten m- I mean us!" Star affirmed.

"See for yourself." Ricardo said and gestured to the small mall. It was empty except for a few stray people wandering about here and there.

"I'm sure there just in stores or whatever..." Star replied with a wave of the hand.

She went off to look around for Marco and the rest of the crew; they hadn't forgotten her, had they?

 _Meanwhile in the panicked Diaz convoy..._

"What have we done!" Marco shouted in anguish and anxiety. How could he just forget her like that, she was his best friend! Even if it was a little awkward sometimes, they were still besties! And besties don't forget each other!

"Don't worry Marco she's got Ricard... Oh ok ya I see your point." Mr Diaz attempted to assure the boy.

"Don't worry little cousin we'll get your girlfriend back!" Daniel snickered and gave Marco a hardy pat on the shoulder.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Marco snapped.

"Jeez calm down I know you nerves are kinda frayed that with your girlfriend missing and all, but that's no reason to get all worked up!" Daniel said with a not-so comforting smile.

Marco banged his head against the tinted glass window and moaned, "I just hope she doesn't try anything stupid..."

 _Back at the mall where Star was trying something stupid..._

Star jumped out from behind an old wooden barrel and rolled along the dry earth, a cloud of dust in her wake.

"Come on out Dirty Dave! I got you in my sights boi!" She yelled and whipped out a small bb pistol.

Star took her aim and fired hitting the smiling straw dummy spot on, "Yeeeehaw!" She cheered and threw the gun into the air, catching it awkwardly.

Star had soon realized early on in her search for the no longer present family members that when Marco wasn't around she could pretty much get away with anything she wanted. Ricardo wasn't a problem either, she had noticed his flavorless attempts at flirtation and needing to get rid of him, sent the boy off on a fool's errand to grab something for her as a "favour".

Left to her own devices she had turned the inside of the small mall into a desert in which she could pretend to be a cowgirl like she saw on the tv. All the shops were now a classic western township, cacti sprouted out of the dusty earthen floor and a fake blue sky was magically painted above.

Star herself was all gussied up for the event too, dressed as an outlaw/sheriff/bandit. To be honest she really didn't have a firm grasp on any of the roles of the characters in the western theme so her costume ended up as a mash up of her favourites, barely leaving her eyes visible.

"Take that ya dirty old varmint!" She taunted to the lifeless object.

Star's goofing around was about to be put to an end though as the security guard had taken notice to the fact that the entire mall had completely been renovated in an instant, (as you can tell was quite perceptive). He waddled out of the back room and into the mall where he came to quite a shock. He was defiantly an overweight man, his belly clearly visible from underneath his blue standard issue mall security jacket.

"Hey you... yeah you! Did, did you do all this miss?" The pudgy guard asked at a loss for words.

"Oh no the sheriff!" Star mumbled to herself.

"Miss?"

"Sorry bout that sheriff and yes I did here do all of this..."

The man frowned.

"...now what cha gunna do bout it?" Star said with a sassy tone and a raised eyebrow.

"How in the name of... Ahh forget it. Dang teenagers, listen here if-"

The poor guard was cut off when another "dang teenager" waltzed out into the mall. Dressed in beaten black leather, he was unmistakably an outlaw. He wore a burnt skull mask, most likely made of plastic and a black western hat tilted so to shade his eyes.

"Hey..." He said in a rough and guttural voice.

Unbeknownst to Star it was Ricardo who lay behind the mask. It was the errand she had sent him on; "dress as a cowguy" were her exact words if he remembered correctly. The mask he wore muffled his voice to a point where it was no longer recognizable leaving Star confused as to who the strange boy was, she had most certainly forgotten all about Ricardo in the time he was gone.

And as a kicker Ricardo didn't know it was Star dressed as the crazy western mash up. She was pretty much hidden and insisted on speaking in a southern drawl accent. Although it should have been obvious, who else would dress like that?

The three of them all stood in a circle carefully eyeing each other. The terrified guard pulled out his taser, "Ok both of you take off the stupid costumes or I-I'll shoot!"

Not to stand for such an offence Star and Ricardo whipped out their bb pistols from their holsters and aimed, now all three not only standing together but now all at (bb) gun point.

The tension was starting to mount before it snapped when the nervous security guard accidentally shot his taser into the air.

At the sound everyone instantly unloaded their weapons; bb's went flying ricocheting off barrels and beams, flying this way and that.

Star hit the ground, kicking up some dust. She rolled to a nearby bench and ducked behind it as cover from the bounce bullets, popping up now and again to take a few shots at the others.

Ricardo used the dust as a veil and slipped away to get some cover in the door of a nearby saloon. The security guard mind you had just sort of flailed around with his bb gun that he had grabbed after his taser fired. He was now standing off to the left clinging for dear life against a wall.

Everyone finally stopped firing and calmed down a bit until then out of the swirling dust emerged a figure. He stood with a slight lean and a down turned head, his brown hat facing the three gun slingers. In reflection to Ricardo this boy was wearing a mostly dirty brown and instead of a mask wore a red bandanna over his nose and mouth leaving his eyes just open.

Star couldn't help but be entranced by the cool glint in his eye when he lifted his head to look the rest of the group. He had a devilishly smooth mannerism that she felt she had seen before but could not for the life of her remember. The boy did not speak; he did not express any emotion, but merely pulled out his own bb pistols and aimed at them.

Now the four were locked in the sights of each other's weaponry. Tension once again pulled the air taut as they eyed their rivals up. Beads of sweat rolled down their dusty cheeks and their breaths hushed until...

"Ahhh... Ahhh... ACHEW!" Star sneezed from all the airborne dirt and fired her gun, everyone broke into utter chaos.

A flurry of gunfire rang out, the strange boy slid back into the dust, continuing to fire as he back up. Everybody else had jutted for the cover they had found before. Star who had her back resting on the bench caught a glimpse of the boy slipping away from the fight.

"Oh no you don't!" She shouted and lunged at him, both hitting the dirt hard.

The two became locked in a struggle to the death (not really but you get the idea). Ricardo took the opportunity and snuck up from behind, he pushed Star to the ground and shot her with his bb gun.

The boy who was lying on the ground kicked out Ricardo's legs and he fell into the dust, the boy stood up and shot him the back. He turned to look at Star, but was shot in the chest mid way through the motion.

Star stood up and proudly blew the fake smoke from the barrel of her bb pistol; the boy who had stumbled backwards from the hit regained his balance. Ricardo came to his feet and the chubby guard poked his head out from behind a wall.

The cloud of dust slowly settled and now since the group was out of ammo they all just stared at each other nonchalant.

"Well that was fun!" Star said in her normal cheery voice.

"STAR?!" Ricardo exclaimed in surprise.

Star took off the odd assortment of clothing wrapped around her head to reveal her recognizable flowing blonde locks.

"The one and only!" She pronounced.

Ricardo pulled off his skull mask and hat, "It's me Ricardo!" His voice no longer muffled.

"Ricardo?" Star said in surprise.

The two laughed, it was the first time they actually had fun _together_. But soon the giggles stopped when they realized who was still standing in their company.

"But if you're Ricardo then..." Star turned to the strange boy, "... Who on mewni are you?"

A cool rough laugh echoed from the figure. He looked away from Star and paused before beginning to take off the bandanna. The cold tough guy laugh soon melted into an all too knowable chuckle as the bandanna was pulled down.

"MARCO?!" Star and Ricardo shouted in unison.

Marco gave a toothy smile and a small laugh, "Yup it's me!"

"But, how... why... what is going on?!" Star exclaimed.

"Well when I showed up to come find you after accidentally leaving you here, sorry about that by the way," he flashed her a shy smile. Star giggled in response.

"Anyway, when I came inside this cashier guy forced me to put on these clothes..."

"Yea I told him to do that to anyone who came in!" Star said proudly.

"After I had gotten dressed I wandered into the mall and saw you guys. At first I didn't recognize anybody but then I noticed your costume and knew it had to be you and that left Ricardo to be the other guy. After I figured out who was who I just decided to go along with whatever you guys were doing!" Marco replied.

"I still cannot believe it was _you_ of all people behind that bandanna..." Star pondered.

"It's probably because of my smooth moves eh?" Marco said with a smirk.

Star blushed a little bit "Yeah, smooth moves..."

Marco laughed and nudged her with his elbow, "Hey you know it!"

Star giggled, "Whatever you say Diaz..."

Ricardo who was glaring at Marco from afar butt in and broke up the two, "Hey we should get going." He said with a tinge of pure hate.

He was miffed with Marco but after what just happened he could care less about enacting his revenge, he would win Star over at the dance always...

The car ride home was less frenzied, filled with some good laughs and just a little bit of teasing. They had managed to completely miss the rehearsal, but lucky for them they still had tomorrow to rehearse the wedding.

As they drove Star slowly drifted off to sleep, she in her dozy state rested her head on Marco's shoulder who himself was too tiered to respond in anyway shape or form, nor did he really want to.

Star let out a drowsy sigh, the tension between them was gone. With that thought lingering in her head Star confidently cuddled up to Marco and drifted off, the last thing she head before sleep took her away was a quiet *click* and a muffled snicker from up front... and maybe and angry grunt.

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 **I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thank you all for reviewing favouriting following ect, I know it's probably worn out buy now but I find it so amazing how much support this story's gotten, it means a lot to me!** **Like I said before if you feel like you have any ideas for what I should do next please tell me in the reviews or PM me/whatever, I'd be glad to hear your input. Thank you so much for reading, see you in the next chapter!**


	18. A Dance Before the Dance

**Hello everybody! It's Unluckywrites here with another chapter of the Diaz family road trip! Sorry about the extra long wait on this one guys, originally I had planned to release the next chapter about two weeks ago but when I was three quarters the way through writing I stopped and re-read the chapter, it was a hot mess. Plot lines were all over the place, inconsistent dialog throughout and a load of other issues. So instead of fixing it I scraped the whole thing and restarted leading to where we are now!**

 **In other news I think I have an idea for my next story it's still pretty bare bones so don't want to reveal anything just yet but at least you guys know I'm thinking of something!**

 **Here are my responses to a few comments that suggested some ideas:**

 **Re- Anonymous: Hmmm I could do that, it'd be a one shot though and I'd have to listen to the song first :)**

 **Re- Deadshoot12345: Man I'm running out of ideas as is let alone enough for an entire other story on the way back!**

 **Now onto this chapter you might notice this one's is a bit slower than the others but trust me where it lacks in energy it sure makes up for in starco! It's a bit more serious but I tried to keep the light heartedness of the series intact. Anyway I won't tell you guys anything else seeing as the title says all that need be said, so without further delay I will let you read!**

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Rain poured out in the fields around the cozy farm house, an odd occurrence midsummer. It was dark, disgustingly wet and utterly miserable so naturally our two protagonists were cooped up inside lazily watching the television.

Other then the sounds emanating from the tv the house was quiet, and basically empty to. Star and Marco had opted out of going to the wedding rehearsal as they had no part in the service and, a bit harshly, couldn't be bothered to watch the wedding twice.

Sighing Star flopped over on the couch into an even less strenuous position then sitting upright. Her big blue eyes glued to the screen.

Marco was also fixed upon the electronic object, entranced by its flashing colours and flickering lights.

"Marco..." Star murmured.

A long pause followed.

"Yea Star..." Marco replied mindlessly.

"You... you should make me some nachos..." She said, fumbling out the words with little effort.

Marco's stoic face barley moved, "Ehhh..."

Star pushed herself onto Marcos lap, "Marco you know what'd be great..?"

She paused and Marco looked down at her on his lap curiously.

"...If you made me some nachos." Star said and pocking his nose.

Marco looked back up at the tv and paused for a good thirty seconds, "Yea alright..."

He nudged Star off his lap and wandered over to the kitchen, "Find us something else to watch I'm getting bored of this sitcom marathon, nothing ever changes it's just the same old stuff over and over."

"But I like this show! And stuff does change; remember 16 episodes back when the baby was born?" Star retorted.

"Star... we've only watched 16 episodes... that was the first one."

"Oh yeah..."

Marco quietly chuckled to himself as he spread the cheese onto the tortilla chips.

He carefully placed the nachos into the piping hot oven and shut the door, "Now we wait." He pronounced.

Star patted the seat beside her, motioning for him to sit down. Marco plopped himself onto the couches soft cushions and let Star lean on him, the normal tv setup.

Everything was coming along nicely, the nachos were cooking filling the room with the scent of home and Star had found a mildly entertaining tv show to binge on. But as per usual good luck turned its face on the two teenagers.

"Did you see that?" Marco exclaimed.

"See what?" Star muttered and cozied up to Marco both maybe a little _too_ comfortable.

"The lights, they flickered... there they did it again!"

"I saw it!" Star happily resounded.

The lights faltered once more before finally dying causing the room to plunge into a sea of pitch black shadow.

"Woah what happened?!" Star yelped into the darkness.

"Ugh power outage..." Marco groaned.

He warily got up of the couch and tiptoed his way into the kitchen off memory. He pulled open each drawer he found until he grabbed the black rubber handle of a flashlight.

"It's ok Star problem solved." He said smugly.

*click* Marco pressed the flashlight's button but no light was produced.

"Awww man... the batteries are dead..." Marco placed the flashlight back in the drawer.

"Don't worry I can just use my... oh wait... ya I left it upstairs..." Star called from the darkness.

Marco bumbled onto the couch nearly hitting Star. "No flashlight, no wand, what are we going to do?"

It was quiet, not even the buzzing of electric appliances was left to fill the silence, all that remained was the pitter patter of rain.

"Hmmmm... we could go and get my wand?" Star thought aloud.

"How are we going to do that, I can't even see my hand right in front of my face let alone try and climb a flight of stairs!" Marco exclaimed.

"Come on you just walked into the kitchen, and that was all by yourself!"

Star grabbed Marco's hand and pulled him close, "We can do it no problem!"

"If you say so..."

Star and Marco locked arms and they both slowly stood up, "Alright one step at a- owch!" Star said as she took her first step and bumped into a lamp.

Marco chuckled "Ya no problem whatsoever..."

They slowly edged through the darkness groping into the black abyss so as to not run into anything.

Star's hand grazed the stair railing, "Hey I found the stairs!"

"Ok now what?" Marco asked.

Star paused to think and Marco in his mind could picture the pensive look on her rosy cheeks.

"Alright I think the best way would be to go on our hands and knees..."

They both went down into a crawling position and began the climb, nothing too too difficult.

When they reached the top Marco let out a sigh, "We better find that wand or it's going to be _real_ fun going down those stairs."

"Don't be such a worry wart! Were nearly there anyways our room is down the hall and on the left!"

Star got up off the ground and grabbed Marco, "Let's get a move on!"

They trotted down the straight hall hand in hand with little to no resistance until they came upon the door to their shared room.

Marco turned the cold metal knob and swung the door open. The small room was just as dark as the hallway.

"So where did you leave it exactly?" Marco asked Star.

"I think I left it on my bed..." Star wandered into the room and Marco followed in hand.

"Ahah!" Star exclaimed holding the wand up high.

A magical blue glow filled the room. It wasn't very bright, rather dim actually, but in the pitch blackness it shone like the brilliant mid day sun.

Marco let out a sigh of relief, "Much better... but we can't just use this, we should go and find some candles."

"What... oh ya sure whatever." Star said distracted by her wand.

Marco tugged her out of the room, "Let's go we don't got al-... wait we do actually have all night, huh."

They spent the next half an hour looking for those blasted candles but for some reason they just couldn't seem to come across any and Star was getting tiered of searching. She sat down on the kitchen counter and sighed.

"Marco we checked everywhere can we just stop looking and like go to sleep or something..." Star whined while twirling her glowing wand.

"Ahhh come on Star where's the fun in that? Besides we still haven't checked the attic!"

Star giggled, "Since when were you ever concerned with fun?"

Marco shot her a playful glare, "Come on let's go..."

The old attic door creaked open into the dusty den. The room was filled with an assortment of objects, an old wardrobe, a couple chests and many many boxes, who knew what delights lay hidden under the mat of dust and cobwebs!

The two stepped inside, "Watch your step, you never know what could be lying on the ground..." Marco cautioned.

They began to search the attics contents, checking in untouched drawers and boxes buried under boxes until at last Marco came across the prize they had been searching for.

"I found some!" He shouted.

"Found what?" Star asked.

"Some candles, you know, what we've been looking for this whole time?"

"We were looking for candles?"

Marco laughed, "Yes Star..."

He struck a match and lit the cream coloured candle, illuminating the room in a yellow-orange light.

"See much better!"

"Hey I want to light some candles to!"

Star pulled out her wand, "Cataclysmic Candle Lite!"

A puff of fire shot from the wand and ignited the candle. Together they placed candles all around the small attic and soon enough the small room was alight with a warm glow that shone through the dancing dust.

Outside rain still poured onto the roof, making itself quite audible in the attic.

When the two had finished lighting the candles Star caught a glimpse of something in the corner of her eye.

"Hey Marco what's that?" She said pointing at an archaic device.

"Sweet, it's a gramophone! What's that doing here?"

"Grammar what?" Star said confuzzled.

"Gramophone, maybe if we can find a record I'll show you how it works... Hmmmm, oh here we are." Marco picked up the ancient record, its label too worn down to be legible.

He placed it on the turn table, plunged it in and turned it on. The old machine puttered into life, crackling before beginning to play a soft slow tune on piano.

"See it plays music!"

"Woah cool!" Star exclaimed.

"I guess you don't have these on Mewni do you?"

"Yeah, every time we want to listen to music on Mewni we have to actually go to a concert or have a whole band play for us."

Marco sat down on a rickety wooden chair and closed his eyes listening to the swirling piano notes that the gramophone turned out.

Star looking back on this moment wasn't sure what had come over her. Maybe it was the candle light or the sound of the rain or maybe or was just her weird teen mood swings but whatever had caused to do what she was about to she was glad it was there.

Star nibbled on the end of her wand, "Hey Marco..."

"Mmmm Hmmm." Marco nodded.

"Do... do you maybe what t-to dance?" She asked shyly, the hearts on her cheeks a vivid red.

Marco stuttered to answer, "Ummm s-sure I guess." He said, the boys face turned pink.

Star pulled him off his chair and took his hand. Marco placed his other hand on her side and they began to dance. As the music played each step became a little less shy and a little more confident. Soon enough they were smoothly waltzing back and forth to the tumbling piano keys from ages ago.

Marco gave Star a twirl and the candles turned into a streak of whirling colour. She fell into his arms and Marco flashed her a shy smile. The song played on and before they knew it the two were laughing and giggling as they both moved to the rhythm.

But as much as Marco was a good dancer it didn't stop Star from tripping and taking them both out. Laying on the old wooden floorboards they couldn't help but laugh and the time worn gramophone crackled to a halt as the tune ended leaving the quiet of rain.

Marco looked over to Star, "Thanks for tripping me by the way." He said between chuckles.

Star giggled, "You're very much welcome good sir!"

Marco finished laughing and turned to look at Star who looked back as well and soon they found themselves lost in each other's eyes. Star could not lie; in a beautiful bit of irony Marco gave her the butterflies.

Suddenly a loud buzz rang out in the house, and the sound of many things rebooting. The attic lights flickered into life and shone in a bright white, the power was back on.

"Hey the powers back!" Marco exclaimed.

"Yea..." Star said a little disappointed that the moment was broken, she was honestly hoping for another dance.

Marco got up and began to blow out the candles, one by one their fiery hearts extinguished. Star watched him tentatively from the floor with an odd feeling in her stomach.

Later on Star realized something that night as they were watching TV and munching on Marco's super awesome nachos, she had a crush on Marco, and she had no idea what to do about.

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 **Thanks for reading and I hope you all liked the chapter! Also I want to say I'm going to add a short epilogue right after the main last chapter just to tie up loose ends and say thanks to all you guys, and also use a pun I've been waiting to unleash since I first started writing this story... see you in the next** **one!**


	19. The Wedding

**Hello Fanfiction! This is it folks the last full chapter of the Diaz Family Road Trip. I will post an epilogue vary soon (Like in one or two days) it won't be nearly as long and will after contain the whole thank-you's, last thoughts and whatnot. I'm not going to say anything about this chapter other then I think it's pretty long. Anyway I hope you enjoy this one last chapter and I will see you at the bottom!**

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Star fidgeted on the cherry red church pew. She wasn't bored no far from it; she was nervous, nervous because the boy she had recently developed a most irritating crush on was sat right beside her, Marco Diaz. Every second of every minute she kept pouring over what he could be thinking about and if was about her, was she breathing to loudly, was she moving around too much, did her hair look good?! It made her feel kinda bad because she really should be paying attention to the service. Although the events of last night had put a sudden urgency on her relationship with Marco and right now, in her mind at least, that was more important than paying attention to the wedding. Marco sat quietly beside her ignorant of the intense agony that Star was putting herself through and it wasn't helping either that he looked quite dashing in that suit of his, hair neatly combed and bright red bow tie placed just right.

Star of course was also dressed for the occasion in a luxurious pale blue dress fashioned in classic Mewni styling's and hair tucked into a bun resting atop her head. Star didn't know this but Marco had most certainly noticed how good the dress looked on her. In fact Marco too had begun to develop feelings for his best friend he was just better at hiding it, a lot better. Marco had always been the better of the two at hiding his true emotions, something he didn't take for granted especially now.

He did occasionally let up though and caught a glance of star fidgeting and muttering the, reason for which flew over his head, he thought she was just plain old bored. Eventually he would snap out of his trance he quickly return his attention to the ongoing wedding service. It was a perfect morning for the wedding too, a clear blue day with a few puffy clouds dotting the sky, far from the terrible rain and storms of the night previous. Now morning sunshine flooded in through the stained glass windows casting the room into a golden glow, indeed it was quite romantic.

Up at the front of the church the wedding service was nearly complete, "...I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride!"

The happy newlyweds kissed to the joy of the crowd who erupted into cheers and clapping but just when things were at their brightest an old nemesis decided to make an untimely entrance...

A swirling portal swooshed open at the back of the room and a hideous green little bird man crawled out, it was of course Ludo and his rag tag army of misfits. "Star Butterfly!" He squealed.

The crowd fell dead silent and everyone turned to face the back of the room.

Star's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she and Marco whirled around to see Ludo's ugly snarl. "Ludo!?" Star and Marco yelped.

"You bet it's me and mark my words I'm not leaving without that stupid wand of yours!" He taunted.

Star and Marco gave each other a knowing look. "Come on why won't you just leave us alone for goodness sake!" Marco sighed.

"I will leave... as long as she gives me the wand!" He replied pointing to Star's side where the wand was tucked away in the glittering blue dress.

"Not going to happen beak face! Come on Marco let's get this over with..." Star grabbed his hand (albeit a bit nervously) and jumped out of the pew into the main aisle where they took their classic battle stance, "Come get some Ludo!" Marco said with a smirk.

"ATTACK!" Ludo screeched and the room burst into screaming as the monsters and teens clashed.

Marco ran forward and Star followed close behind. He stopped, twirled around and gave Star a boost into the air where she fired off a magic spell, hitting the giraffe guy straight into Ludo.

Marco flew into the mix with a spin kick and knocked down a line of monsters in a single blow before moving onto the next unfortunate victim of his karate skills.

The crowds eyes became fixed upon the duo as the almost effortlessly pushed back the monster threat from the portal whence it came. Each punch and kick was perfectly placed and each spell right on time, they were like a well oiled machine with no sign of slowing. It was quite a sight behold, the two teens working in tandem.

And almost as soon as Ludo's army had entered the wedding room they were on the floor groaning as usual with Ludo himself angrily shouting at the lot of them.

"UGH YOU'RE PATHETIC! Let's just get out of here..." Ludo moaned dejectedly.

Star and Marco stood back to back in the center of the carnage, proudly gazing at another successful battle.

"Now get out of here! We've got a wedding to finish!" Star proclaimed.

A couple hours later after the dinner had been eaten, toasts had been made and Star and Marco thanked for their valiant efforts the two of them looked out over the dance floor as the after party was about to begin...

The dance floor was empty except for the newlyweds who were dancing to a soft waltz. The waltz came to a close with cheers and whistles and at that moment the room was plunged into the latest pop music and some smooth rock and everyone giddily rushed onto the dance floor and got the party started.

Star was most certainly exited, not only because of the music but because soon enough a slow dance would play and she was looking forward to dancing with a certain someone...

Unfortunately for her and her dancing plans it seemed everyone else at the wedding, e.g: random friends of friends and so on, had noticed Star and Marco's fighting skill and now they had become the stars of the wedding second only to Donato and his new wife.

"MARCO, THIS IS AWESOME!" Star yelled over the blaring music from across the room.

"WHAT STAR?!" Marco shouted back.

"I SAID THIS IS PRETTY AWESOME!"

"What is she talking about?... JUST A SECOND I'M COMING OVER TO YOU!"

"WHAT?" Star yelled.

Marco shook his head and chuckled as he began to wade through the sea of people, everyone all sweaty and gross, jumping around under the glaring multi coloured lights and clouds of fake smoke.

He pushed through the thick shifting mob, and swore he could just make out Star's dress flickering gently through the crowd. But before he could make it to her he was tugged aside into a slow dance as the music shifted pace.

"Woah!"

"Hey there so you're the Marco everyone's been talking about?" The almond eyed girl said to him in a heavy Latin accent.

"I-I mean... Yes? What just happened... and what do you mean everyone's talking about me?" He replied dumbfounded as they swayed back and forth.

The girl rolled her eyes playfully "Were dancing silly! And of course everybody's talking about you, we saw you take out those monsters earlier."

Marco took a breath to give a reply but saw Star in the corner of his eye talking to a pack of random dudes. The music came to a close, one slow dance down and two to go, or in other words two more chances to dance with Star.

"I'm sorry I have to go talk to my friend..." He said to the girl.

She sighed "I was hoping you wouldn't say that, I kinda guessed you two had a thing..."

For the first time he wasn't even annoyed at the suggestion, in fact he actually had taken a liking that sound of them together.

"You can go." She said letting his hand fall free.

Marco nodded, "Thanks." He replied with a shy smile and rushed off to catch Star before she too was snapped up by some random admirer of which she looked to have many.

Star in fact was facing the same conundrum. She had been ambushed by a pack of strange earth boys and desperately wanted to find Marco. While she balanced looking around and keeping up conversation, Marco was speed walking straight ahead in her direction in hopes of reaching her before another slow dance slid its way into the air and she was forced to dance with another guy.

Unfortunately though for the second time today an old nemesis reappeared, Ricardo. The other guys trying to win Star backed off as he approached a clear sign of his reputation and domineering attitude.

Marco groaned at his arrival, he hadn't seen him around recently and wasn't pleased to see that he still had his beady eyes set on Star. As Ricardo approached he could see Star looking around, presumably for him. It hurt! Oh it hurt; he was so _so_ close but just a few seconds too slow.

Marco came to a stop and sighed as he watched Star cautiously take the dance with Ricardo. Grunting he made his way to the punch bar where he grabbed himself a glass of sugary relief. Marco took a swig of the sparkling red drink and watched Star and Ricardo grumpily from the side of the dance floor as the second slow song began to play.

Star did not look too impressed with the situation either, a slightly irritated expression rested on her face until Ricardo looked at her. When that happened she gave him an obviously forced smile, well, obvious to Marco at least. He had come to know her well enough to tell with ease whether she was faking emotions or being genuine.

"Eh kid you ok?" An older boy asked.

He was a fare bit taller than Marco and was relatively lanky; he had to be at least 18 years old. On top his head lay a brown mop of hair that framed his face well alongside a scruffy "almost a man but still not quite yet" beard.

Marco looked over to the boy and decided to trust him just for the heck of it, after all what did he have to lose?

"Not really, you see I'm trying to dance with that blonde girl over there but everything keeps getting in the way!" Marco replied lazily.

The boy nodded "Hey aren't you and her the ones that fought those crazy monsters?"

"Yeah" Marco said taking another sip of his drink.

"Don't worry my man I got you, names Nathan by the way." He said before going off to talk to the Dj.

"Alright..." Marco sighed again; he didn't see how this Nathan guy could help him get a dance. Marco watched him whisper something into the Dj's ear and point to him and then Star; the Dj chuckled and gave Nathan a wink.

Then after the slow dance had come to an end the Dj made an announcement, "Alright folks we got a request from a resident Nathan for a Swing'N'Swap dance, should be fun!"

The crowd cheered for a bit before a bouncy swinging rock song blasted out of the speakers and everyone started to dance. Marco had no idea what was going on, the heck was a Swing'N'Swap dance?

Suddenly from be hide, Marco was pushed into the crowd of dancers (hint: it was Nathan) where he was swept up into a dance by some random girl.

"Ahhh! What is going on!?" Marco asked frantically.

"I think you'll catch on soon enough." She said with a wink and passed him onto another person.

"Woah. Oh hey Sofia." He said as they danced.

"Hey Marco! I'm guessing you want to get to Star?" She said with a smirk.

Marco grinned "Actually I'll have you know I do!"

"My little cousin Marco finally noticed his feelings? Adorable!" She teased.

"Shut up you." Marco replied playfully, "Just get me to Star ok!"

"Alright alright, here you go!" Sofia passed him onto another girl now he just had to make his way over to Star...

The first girl was right Marco was getting the hang of it, swinging from girl to girl to guy, it was actually a lot of fun! By the time Star was is sight Marco had a massive smile on his face and from where he was Star looked like she was having a blast too, and this was real emotions none of the fake stuff from before!

Suddenly Marco was spun around expecting another random dance partner on his way to find Star but as luck had it instead he came face to face with the one he was looking for. Marco was stunned, he was sure the multicoloured lights shining upon Star's dress were play tricks on his eyes. Star was stopped in her tracks as well; Marco look absolutely dapper, to her handsome was quite an understatement. After a while of awkwardly staring at each other Marco snapped back into reality,

"Star! I've been searching like forever for you!" He exclaimed, the words tumbling out of his mouth a bit too fast.

Star giggled, "I was searching for you!"

Marco laughed "We're pretty bad at finding each other then..."

The Dj caught a glance of them and immediately changed the music to a smooth slow dance, "Alright were bringing down now, so grab yourself a partner!"

Everyone seemed a bit confused as to why he cut the music off right in the middle but Marco knew exactly what was going on, he reminded himself to give a huge thanks to Nathan later...

Marco blushed slightly as he popped the question "Sooo... uh do you want to, you know?"

"YES! ...I-I mean yea sure..." Star replied hastily.

Marco grasped Star's hand and the assumed the waltz position. They slowly began to turn to the groove of the music. At first they were stiff as boards, not wanting to come an inch closer to each other as they were both terribly nervous.

But as the song progressed they loosened up a bit, and soon enough Marco's slick dance moves from the bloodmoon ball and night previous came out. The two were twirling and swirling, both moving in harmony with one another. The song began to pick up and their dance followed suit. It became filled with fancy frills and spin moves, Star even got air a couple times.

Time felt like it was slowing down, as they spun the lights seemed to blend together and nearly come to a stop. Star's dress shimmered iridescently in the light, and when she looked up at Marco his soft brown eyes sparkled with a kaleidoscope colour. For a second the world froze and Star and Marco stared into each other's eyes, giddy smiles plastered on their faces.

They were having the time of their lives, both completely entranced with each other. The eternity could not last forever though as the song finally faded away to a close and they parted.

And to the two teen's surprise the crowd had formed a circle around them and had watched the whole spectacle unfold. Now almost everybody was cheering and clapping, although a few of Star's admires were sulking by the sideline and Ricardo looked like he was about to explode at any moment.

Star and Marco's faces lit up into deep red colour. Star grabbed Marco's hand and held it high into the air, "Follow my lead." She whispered to him.

The two teens bowed to the crowd and the Dj put on another song, "Alright everybody let's get right back into the dancing!"

A wave of people filled the floor, Star gripped tight onto to Marcos hand in fear of losing him in the torrent of party-goers. Marco tugged on Star to get her attention, "Hey let's get outa here."

"Yea I think I've had enough dancing for one night!" Star exclaimed.

They steadily navigated their way past the punch table and towards the exit, but not before Ricardo could confront Marco...

"Marco!" He snarled.

Marco gulped "Yes Ricardo?"

Ricardo stomped his way over to them with deadly glare on his face. He stopped before them and took a deep breath, "I have never lost to anyone in my life you hear me!... but I guess that's going to change."

Marco stared blankly at his rival in pure shock.

"Look I know when I've been beat and I'm not going to deny it... mark my words though this is the only time you win!"

Marco pumped his fist into the air, "Yes! I won! I beat Ricardo at his own game!"

"Yeah yeah don't get to excited though; there are plenty of other things I can beat you at!" Ricardo said not to be outdone by Marco's cheering.

"What are you guys talking about?" Star asked innocently.

The two boys froze turned a many shades of pink. Ricardo in response slowly backed away into the crowd.

"I'll uh... tell you all about it later." Marco said with a nervous chuckle, "Now come on let's go! This loud music is starting to get on my nerves..."

They headed out, leaving the stuffy confines of the building and stepped into the cool night air. It was a beautiful clear night; the grass swayed in the chilly breeze and up above was a vast expanse of glittering stars. The sound of crickets and shifting leaves could be heard clearer as they walked away from the church and out into nature.

They eventually found themselves alone not too far from the building up on grassy hilltop. They sat down and looked out across the landscape's starry backdrop.

Star sighed, "It's nice and quiet out here..."

Marco nodded, "Yeah it's good to get away from all the people and noise."

Star chuckled, "Thanks for the awesome dance by the way."

Marco looked away nervously, "Don't mention it."

A still silence fell over them leaving only the night's soundtrack. After some time Star inched a bit closer to Marco.

"Hey Marco..." She began.

"Yea." He responded without shifting his gaze from the starry sky.

"I-I have to uh, tell you something..." She said nervously.

Marco began to clue in and turned slightly pink, "What w-would that be?"

Star moved a bit closer, "These l-last few d-d-days I have started t-t-to feel a bit different." She stuttered, glancing away from Marco.

Marco moved in even closer and now the two were almost touching. Star brushed her hair nervously and began to chew on her wand. Marco with reddened cheeks began to grin...

"Marco I-I think I'm in love with y- mfff!" That was all the confirmation Marco needed as he put an end to Star's rambling with a kiss on the lips.

Star melted into it and wrapped her arms around his neck. The kiss wasn't perfect; in all honesty it wasn't even a very good kiss as they had little experience with the subject but it sure _felt_ perfect.

Their lips parted and Star opened her eyes to see Marco's goofy smile. Star giggled and shoved him onto his back, "You've got nerve you know that!"

Marco laughed, "I know I know."

Star flopped down beside him. "So does this mean..."

Marco grasped her hand, "I think you already know the answer to your question."

They laid there on the grassy hill for a while after, they talked with each other like old times, enjoying the company. It was as if nothing had changed but yet everything was different. It was an odd feeling to say the least.

Marco helped Star up and they began to walk hand in hand back to the church with plans of breaking the not so surprising news. As the traveled Star spoke up, "Uhh Marco I've got a question."

"Hmmm?"

"What was the thing you were talking about with Ricardo?" She said with a grin. Star in fact had already clued in to what they had been talking about earlier but took pleasure in teasing Marco. Especially now since they were a couple.

Marco swallowed hard "I uhhh, well you see..."

* * *

 **Boom! That was it everyone that was the last full chapter! I hope you all enjoyed and liked the extra starco-y goodness! The epilogue should be up soon see you guys there!**

 **Also Re- Anonymous: None taken, I just don't listen to the radio vary often and if I do it's on a classic rock station so I guess you could say I'm kinda out of the loop that way. :/**


	20. Home (Epilogue)

Marco rested his elbow on the car window as they drove down the slopes into echo creek. The orangey citrus sun was in the process of setting and in a beautiful bit of symmetry the evening was just like when they first were riding the hills out of town nearly four weeks ago. Now they were travelling in the opposite direction, back to the spot they called home.

"Marco we're almost home!" Star said with excited glee.

Marco chuckled, "Yes Star we are almost home!"

Star leaned onto his shoulder as they watched the sunset from behind they dusty car window. "Hey remember when we first were coming out this way and we stopped to watch the sunset?"

"Oh ya I do remember, and then after you woke me up with a jump scare!"

Star giggled "Yea..."

She snuggled up to Marco, it had been a long day and she was feeling pretty tired and besides now that Marco was her boyfriend she could basically use him as a pillow whenever she wanted anyways.

The trip back had been less, well, deadly and more normal (not that their normal was even remotely close to most people's). There were no crazy Ludo attacks or devious schemes, no deadly storms and the two teens had managed to avoid any more confrontations with the law. The return trip had been a well earned break for our heroes, a relaxing time to enjoy one another's company and time for Star and Marco to bond after that first kiss during the wedding party.

At first Star and Marco were unsure how to break the news to Mr and Mrs Diaz. Though after pondering their choices for a bit outside the church building they opted for the straight on approach and were more than pleased to hear that Mr and Mrs Diaz were ecstatic to finally hear the news and had unsurprisingly seen it coming from miles away.

Star was jolted awake by Mrs Diaz, "Hey Star we're home!" She whisper-yelled to her.

The whole family gathered at the front door of home. The sun had dipped below the horizon and left a peaceful twilight.

Mr Diaz breathed in, "Ready guys?"

The group moaned, "Yes just put it in!" Mrs Diaz playfully chastised.

A metallic clinking could be heard as the lock released. Mr Diaz turned the cool door knob and the homely wooden door creaked open.

"Ahhh home sweet home!" Marco exclaimed and ran into the house, flopping lazily onto the couch.

"Hey wait for me!" Star said flopping down beside him.

It was perfect; everything was right where they left it. There's nothing better than coming home to see it's stayed the same.

"Come on you two you've got to unpack your stuff! And I know that Star brought quite a bit of stuff!" Mrs Diaz said walking inside.

"Alright..." The two responded with a moan.

Later that night...

Star and Marco were sitting on the couch watching tv as usual. It really didn't take that long for them to get back into a normal routine. Marco had whipped up some nachos and Star had picked out a movie.

"Back to normal eh?" Marco said between cheesy bites.

"Well almost normal... I'd say things are a little different now." Star said with a grin.

Marco laughed "Yeah now I know what it's like to sleep beside Star Butterfly... as in you don't sleep because there's always hair in your face."

Star giggled "Not what I meant but sure that works too."

She let out a tied yawn, "You know speaking of slumber I think I'm just going to go to sleep right here..." Star lifted bowl of nachos off the couch and placed it onto the floor.

"Hey was eating those!" Marco retaliated.

"Not anymore, ever since that kiss you have earned the privilege of being my pillow, my red sweater-y pillow."

Marco chuckled "Lucky me..."

Star sighed rested head on Marco "Good night Marco..."

Marco rolled his eyes and decided to go along,

"Good night Star..." He said, placing a kiss on her forehead.

The tv powered off casting the room into a dimly lit darkness and with a finale glance at his new girlfriend sleeping peacefully Marco to fell asleep.

It was for the better anyway as Star and Marco were going to need their rest, for who knew what the two teen's newest adventure had in store...

* * *

 **Hello its Unluckywrites here, addressing you for the last time! (In this fanfic at least). Man this has been one crazy heck of a _ride_ you guys. You could say it's been quite the _journey_.**

 **Terrible puns aside this really has been insane! At the time of me writing this the fic has 101 reviews, 80 followers, 61 favs and 45 thousand words! Like what?! When I first started out I had no expectations of it getting this popular...**

 **But here we are! I don't want to only talk about numbers though, your guy's reviews never failed to put a smile on my face and it's really satisfying to see that people are actually enjoying what I'm writing and want to see more of it! I just want to say thanks (for like the billionth time) to everyone who reviewed, favourited or just read the story!**

 **I'm also actually really interested to hear from you guys what was your favourite chapter was and what you think I could have done better and so on. If you want you can just tell me in the reviews! Personally my favourite chapter was the one where Star and Marco get stuck out in the desert, it was a blast to write and I think turned out really well.**

 **Here i want to give a special thank you to EVAunit42 for mentioning me in his story: There's always a star and a hoodie. He really didn't have to and it means a lot that he did so it's only fair I give him a shout out!**

 **And finally I just want to let you all know I have been working on my next story, I'm not too sure when the first chapter is going to come out but I think you're all going to like it! I may also come back later on and write a sequel to this story, I think it'd be fun but I make no promises!**

 **Thanks for reading, -Unluckywrites**


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